Belgium men, Argentina women complete BNP Paribas World Team Cup entry
Teams from 23 nations will contest the 2022 BNP Paribas World Team Cup in Vilamoura, Portugal on 2-8 May after 2017 bronze medallists Belgium were awarded the last wild card for the men’s event at the ITF’s flagship wheelchair tennis team event.
Argentina were awarded the remaining wild card for the women’s World Group, meaning that Argentina are set to contest three of the four championship events in Portugal, with entries in the men’s, women’s and junior events.
Sixteen men’s teams, 12 women’s teams, eight quad teams and eight junior teams will play for the titles in Portugal, where Brazil, Great Britain, Japan, Netherlands and USA will all be represented in each of the four World Group competitions.
Last year in Sardinia, Netherlands became the first nation to win all three senior championships in the same year after victories in the men’s, women’s and quad events. While another strong Dutch squad will bid to repeat that feat, Japan will return in a bid to repeat their victory of 12 months ago in the junior event, which will once again be supported by the Johan Cruyff Foundation.
The 2021 World Team Cup was held three weeks after the Tokyo Paralympics, which meant that Belgium’s men’s team played in Sardinia without the services of Joachim Gerard after last year’s Australian Open and Wimbledon champion was taken ill in Tokyo. Belgium subsequently finished in 13th position in the men’s event in Sardinia, with just the nations finishing in the top 10 qualifying directly for the 2022 World Team Cup.
Great Britain, who were silver medallists in 2017 as France won the title and Belgium earned their first World Team Cup men’s medal, were unable to field a men’s team in Sardinia in 2021 due to injury and illness. However, Great Britain joined Chile, Malaysia and South Africa in earning victories in their respective draws at last month’s Qualification event in Turkey, while as host nation Portugal have a wild card to contest the men’s event in Vilamoura.
Argentina finished fifth in their women’s draw at the Qualification event in Turkey as France, Switzerland and Thailand occupied the top three places. However with Argentina narrowly missing out on a top-four finish they have been awarded the wild card to contest the women’s event in the World Group.
View all the entries for the 2022 BNP Paribas World Team Cup here.