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Prague will host the inaugural Billie Jean King Cup Finals in November

The Billie Jean King Cup Finals, formerly known as the Fed Cup, will be played on indoor hard courts in Prague in early November with France set to defend the title they won in 2019; the competition has been twice postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic

French team, from left, Kristina Mladenovic, Caroline Garcia, Alize Cornet, Pauline Parmentier, Fiona Ferro and captain Julien Benneteau celebrate on the podium after defeating Australia to win the Fed Cup tennis final in Perth, Australia, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Trevor Collens)
Image: French defeated Australia to win the last edition of the Fed Cup before it was renamed the Billie Jean King Cup Finals

This year's Billie Jean King Cup Finals will be played on indoor hard courts in Prague in early November, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) confirmed on Friday.

The women's team competition featuring 12 nations, formerly known as the Fed Cup, was originally scheduled to be held in Budapest, Hungary in April last year but was twice postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The tournament will now be held at the O2 Arena in Prague from November 1-6 after the Hungarian Tennis Association backed out in April saying it was no longer feasible to host the Finals due to safety reasons.

General view of the O2 Arena during the IAAF European Athletics Indoor Championships 2015 at the O2-Arena in Prague, Czech Republic, March 06, 2015. Photo by: Sven Hoppe/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
Image: The O2 Arena in Prague will host this year's Billie Jean King Cup Finals

"I am very happy that the Czech Tennis Association (CTA) could provide a solution when ITF President David Haggerty reached out seeking a new host for this year," CTA chief Ivo Kaderka said in a statement.

Hungary will also be replaced in Group A by Canada, the highest-ranked winning nation at the playoffs in April this year, for the inaugural Billy Jean King Cup Finals.

France, Russia, Australia, Belarus, Belgium, the United States, Spain, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany and Switzerland will be the other nations competing.

The Fed Cup was restructured into a World Cup of tennis format and renamed the Billie Jean King Cup last year in honour of the American 12-time Grand Slam champion and women's tennis trailblazer who was part of the winning team at the inaugural Fed Cup in London in 1963.

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"It's an honour to represent this historic competition and I want to thank the ITF and the Czech Republic for doing everything in their power to stage this year's women's World Cup of Tennis despite the challenging circumstances," King said.

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