The captain of the Ukrainian national team in the Billie Jean King Cup, Ilya Marchenko, weighed the chances of the “blue and yellow” for success in the 2026 season. He spoke about this in an interview with Setanta and the portal “Great Tennis of Ukraine”.
In this year's Billie Jean King Cup, the Ukrainian national team will begin its performances with the qualification, in which it will play for the right to return to the final part of the tournament. The opponents of the “blue and yellow” in the selection will be the Polish national team, and the match meeting on April 10-11, despite the nominal status of the hosts, the Ukrainian team will hold on the opponent's court.
The Ukrainian national team for the match against Poland included five tennis players: Elina Svitolina, Marta Kostyuk, sisters Lyudmila and Nadiya Kichenok, as well as the team's debutant Oleksandra Oliynykova.
Two Ukrainian tennis players are in the top 30 of the world rankings. Elina Svitolina enters the national team matches in seventh place in the ranking, and Marta Kostyuk in 27th.
Oleksandra Oliynykova, who is making her debut for the national team, lost her first match in a WTA main tournament at the start of the clay season. However, this surface has become the most successful for the Ukrainian at the ITF level – all 13 titles of the series she won on clay courts (including seven in the 2025 season).
“I am very pleased with our lineup. We have two elite tennis players in singles and a very strong pair. That's why I am very pleased. We have quite strong women's tennis, so I have someone to choose from,” said Marchenko.
“I have to keep an eye on all the girls, I've talked to a lot of them. On clay, I think this is probably, if not the best, then one of the best squads. And overall, we have one of the best teams in the world right now.”
The status of the favorites in the match against Poland is reinforced by the absence of the leader of the rivals, Iga Swiontek. The fourth racket of the world ranking will miss the spring part of the tournament for the second season in a row after lengthy negotiations with the national team representatives.
“This is a national team – anything can happen. That's why we have to give it our all every match, every meeting. In general, maybe yes – we are the favorites. And yes, against Poland without Swiontek we are also the favorites. But this is a national team. Here we have to concentrate and work, give all our strength, and then look at the result.”
Last season, Ukraine made its debut in the final tournament of the Billie Jean King Cup by reaching the semifinals – then the “blue and yellow” were stopped only by the future champions from Italy. After the competition, the Ukrainian team entered the top 5 of the Cup rating for the first time.
In the 2025 season qualifiers, Ukraine and Poland have already met in the group round. Then the “blue-yellow” won all three matches: Svitolina and Kostyuk won the singles, and the Kichenok sisters won the doubles.
The matches between Ukraine and Poland at the Billie Jean King Cup will be played in a classic five-game format. The “blue and yellow” need to win three matches to advance to the final tournament.
Under the tournament format, the winners of the seven qualifying matches will secure a berth in the 2026 Billie Jean King Cup finals in September. The eighth team will be the host nation, China.