The new captain of the Romanian team made the nominations for the Billie Jean King Cup play-off » Reunion with Iga Swiatek after 3 years

Romania will play the play-off in mid-November Billie Jean King Cup in Poland, on the indoor hard in Arena Gorzow, in the city of Grozow Wielkopolski, alongside Poland and new zealandbeing part of group B.

Alexandra Carpenterwho on September 19 officially became non-playing captain of the representative team, replacing Horia Tecaumade the nominations for these matchups. Gabriela Ruse (27 years old, 99th place WTA), Gabriela Lee (30 years old, 293rd place WTA), Elena Ruxandra Bertea (19 years old, 310th place WTA), Mara Gae (20 years old, 793rd place WTA) and Monica Niculescu (38 years old, 91st place WTA in doubles) will be part of the Romanian team.

Ruse and Niculescu return to the national team after a year, playing in the final tournament in Malaga, from November 2024, a phase in which Romania found itself for the first time and was defeated by Japan 2-1 in the 1st round.

Mara Gae was nominated for the first time in 2024 for the BJK Finals decider against Ukraine, and then made the squad for the qualifiers against Japan and Canada in April 2025.

Gabriela Lee and Elena Ruxandra Bertea were summoned for the premiere.

Mara Gae in action Photo: Imago Images

He will not be part of the team Jaqueline Cristianthe best-ranked Romanian player at the moment, who most recently performed in the BJK Cup at the final tournament in Malaga, from 2024.

Anca Todoninumber 1 on the Japanese tour, ended his season early due to physical problems, Ana Bogdan is on an extended hiatus following injuries and mental health issues, and Sorana Cîrstea and Irina Begu they announced their retirement from the national team some time ago.

Nations can make changes, a maximum of three, until one day before the start of each group's tournament.

Reunion with Iga Swiatek after 3 years and 7 months

For Romania, the games at Grozow Wielkopolski will bring a reunion with the world number 2, Iga Swiatekafter 3 years and 7 months. In April 2022, the “tricolore” lost 0-4 to Poland, in Radom, in the qualifiers. Then, this year's Wimbledon champion left only one game to the Romanians, defeating her 6-1, 6-0 on Mihaela Buzărnescu and with a 6-0 double on Andreea Prisăcariu.

Team nominations for the 2025 #BJKCup Play-offs are in ✍️

Find out who is set to feature for their countries in November, as 21 teams battle to make it to the 2026 Qualifiers! 👇

— Billie Jean King Cup (@BJKCup) October 17, 2025

Swiatek's presence in the team has been an uncertainty until recently, with her confirming on Thursday, October 16 that she will play. The press in Poland welcomes the decision of the six-time Grand Slam champion and, at the same time, highlights the absence of two other important players.

The unplayable captain David the Celt will not be able to rely on Magda Linette, Magdalena Frech and Maja Chwalinskasummoning them instead on Katarzyna Kawa, Linda Klimovicova and Martyna Kubka.

Linette announced a few days ago that she closed her season and will start training for the next one after a period of rest. Chwalinska is injured and will only be able to resume training after a month, and Frech has also decided not to play this year.

“I am very excited. We will be playing in Poland again, for the second time this year. It means a lot to me, to my team and, I think, to our fans as well. It is another opportunity to present tennis at the highest level in Poland“, said the team captain, Dawid Celt, quoted in a press release of the Polish Tennis Association.

“I'm glad that Iga is back in the Polish national team. Of course, it means a lot to me and the whole team. We have the same goal. We want to win every game and this time it will be exactly the same. I can promise that, because we will always give everything we have on the pitch. We will fight until the last ball and see what will bring us after the last point“, he concluded.

I am part of the New Zealand team Lulu Sun, Vivian Yang, Elyse Tse, Erin Routliffe and Jade Otwayunder the supervision of the non-playing captain Matthew Hair.

How the Billie Jean King Cup Playoffs Work

The 2025 play-offs are played in seven groups of three nations in the tournament system as the final stage of the transition from the previous format to the current format. This year's finals, which took place in Shenzhen in September, were the first to be played as an eight-team competition, mirroring the existing Davis Cup Final 8 format.

Each group in the play-offs will be played at one location over three days, with the host country having the right to choose the venue and playing surface. The nation that finishes first in each group in the play-offs will advance to the 2026 qualifiers, where they will compete for a place in the 2026 finals. The countries that finish second and third in each group will compete in one of the three regional competitions in Group I (Americas, Asia/Oceania or Europe/Africa) the following season.

The traditional home or away fixtures will return in both qualifiers and play-offs from 2026.

The play-off schedule was announced in August. All play-off matches will be played in a best-of-three format – two singles matches followed by a doubles match. All games will be played in the “best of three sets” system, with a classic tie-break at 6-6.

Composition of groups

• Group A (Monterrey, Club Sonoma, hard) – Canada, Mexico, Denmark
• Group B (Gorzow Wielkopolski, Arena Gorzow, hard indoor) – Poland, Romania, New Zealand
• Group C (Cordoba, Cordoba Lawn Tennis Club, clay) – Slovakia, Switzerland, Argentina
• Group D (Varazdin, Arena Varazdin, hard indoor) – Czech Republic, Colombia, Croatia
• Group E (Hobart, Domain Tennis Centre, hard) – Australia, Brazil, Portugal
• Group F (Ismaning, Tennis Club Ismaning, hard indoor) – Germany, Belgium, Turkey
• Group G (Bengaluru, SM Krishna Tennis Stadium, hard) – Netherlands, Slovenia, India