Karolina Pliskova explains decision to skip Billie Jean Cup

• Tennis News
• WTA Tennis

World No. 3 Karolina Pliskova believes the Czech team can do well without her as she has withdrawn from the Billie Jean Cup. Pliskova, 29, has had a long and demanding season, especially the second part of the season, in which she has made latter stages in almost every event she participated.

“I’ve played the Fed Cup several times, and we’ve won the finals twice, so I know how beautiful the emotions are. But I will not be on the team this year,” Pliskova said. "We agreed with captain Pala and president Kaderka that we would leave room for other girls who also deserve to play in front of a sold-out arena and Czech fans.

I believe that the line-up that the Czech team has will be very strong and successful. The schedule for this season is very demanding, one really has to make difficult decisions from time to time, what to play and what to skip.

I will try to prepare for the WTA Finals, where I would like to go as far as possible."

Pliskova focused on the WTA Finals

"I’m very proud to qualify for the WTA Finals for the fifth time. It means you are one of the best of the season and that is always the goal.

I look forward to competing in Guadalajara," Pliskova said on Monday. Pliskova missed out on her last chance to win a Grand Slam in 2021 after losing to Maria Sakkari in the US Open quarterfinal. "I thought she played very good match, very solid.

Of course, I didn't get many chances on her serve which was a bit frustrating because I didn't have many matches like this," Pliskova said after the loss. "My serve was so-and-so today. But just one break in each set. I thought maybe if I could have held the serve a bit longer, maybe I could have more chances than I had."