How to watch, schedule, rosters

The crown for the world champion of tennis is up for grabs at the 2026 Billie Jean King Cup Finals.

A record field of 148 nations has been narrowed to eight — Italy, Great Britain, Ukraine, Spain, Czechia, Kazakhstan, Belgium and China — and will meet for the title in Shenzhen, China, from Sept. 22-27.

Italy enters the women’s World Cup of Tennis as the two-time defending champions, led by Italian stars Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani, who won Olympic gold in the women's doubles event at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Italy looks to become the first country to win three consecutive titles since Czechia did so a decade ago from 2014-16.

The Italians drew a tough quarterfinal matchup against China led by Olympic women's singles champion Zheng Qinwen, who recently advanced all the way to the U.S. Open quarterfinal as a qualifier.

Elena Rybakina was set to kick off her reign as the World No. 1 at the Billie Jean King Cup, but the Kazakhstan superstar withdrew from the competition due to an Achilles tendon injury she battled during her U.S. Open title run. She's not the only powerhouse out of contention — Team USA was eliminated in the qualifiers in April.

Rybakina may be out and the Americans eliminated, but the field is stacked with WTA top 10 players and Grand Slam champions set to represent their country, including World No. 6 Linda Noskova (Czechia), No. 7 Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) and No. 8 Karolina Muchova (Czechia).

Here's what you need to know ahead of first serve at the 2026 Billie Jean King Cup Finals:

Billie Jean King Cup Finals schedule

All matches will be held at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre Arena in Shenzhen, China.

Quarterfinals

Tuesday, Sept. 22: Great Britain vs Czechia | 5 a.m. ET

Wednesday, Sept. 23

Spain vs Kazakhstan | 5 a.m. ET

Ukraine vs Belgium | 10 p.m. ET

Thursday, Sept. 24: China vs Italy | 5 a.m. ET

Semifinals

Friday, Sept. 25: Winner of Match A vs Winner of Match D | 5 a.m. ET

Saturday, Sept. 26: Winner of Match B vs Winner of Match C | 5 a.m. ET

Championship

Sunday, Sept. 27: Winners of the semifinals | 5 a.m. ET

How to watch Billie Jean King Cup

The 2026 Billie Jean King Cup Finals will be available to stream on billiejeankingcup.com and the World Cup of Tennis app.

Billie Jean King Cup format

The 2026 Bille Jean King Cup Finals will begin with four quarterfinal matchups, each consisting of two singles matches, followed by a doubles match if a tiebreaker is needed. The first nation to win two matches will advance to the semifinal round beginning on Friday, Sept. 25. The same format will be used in the semifinal and final. Like the Grand Slams, each match will be best-of-three sets.

Billie Jean King Cup rosters

Belgium

Captain: Wim Fissette

Hanne Vandewinkel

Greet Minnen

Jana Otzipka

Magali Kempen

Lara Salden

*Jeline Vandromme withdrew

China

Captain: Jie Zheng

Qinwen Zheng

Shuai Zhang

Xiyu Wang

Hanyu Guo

Xinyu Jiang

Czechia

Captain: Barbora Strycova

Karolina Muchova

Linda Noskova

Marie Bouzkova

Katerina Siniakova

Sara Bejlek

Great Britain

Captain: Anne Keothavong

Katie Boulter

Harriet Dart

Sonay Kartal

Mika Stojsavljevic

Jodie Burrage

Italy

Captain: Tathiana Garbin

Jasmine Paolini

Elisabetta Cocciaretto

Lucia Bronzetti

Sara Errani

Tyra Grant

Kazakhstan

Captain: Yuriy Schukin

Yulia Putintseva

Anna Danilina

Zhibek Kulambayeva

Sonja Zhiyenbayeva

*Elena Rybakina withdrew due to injury

Spain

Captain: Carla Suarez Navarro

Cristina Bucsa

Jessica Bouzas Maneiro

Kaitlin Quevedo

Marina Bassols Ribera

Sara Sorribes Tormo

Ukraine

Captain: Illya Marchenko

Elina Svitolina

Anhelina Kalinina

Katarina Zavatska

Lyudmyla Kichenok

*Marta Kostyuk withdrew due to a wrist injury

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