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Billie Jean King Cup Heart Award: 2021 Finals

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1. NOMINEES

Belinda Bencic (SUI)
Olympic champion Belinda Bencic anchored Switzerland’s escape from the ‘Group of Death’ ahead of Czech Republic and Germany, with hard-earned singles wins over former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber and reigning Roland Garros champion and home favourite Barbora Krejcikova. She then guaranteed their spot in the semi-finals with a doubles win over the Czechs alongside Jil Teichmann. Her straight-sets victory over Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic in the semis secured Switzerland’s spot in just their second Billie Jean King Cup final. 

Danielle Collins (USA)
USA’s No. 1 in Prague, Danielle Collins was the standout performer for her nation as she delivered two crucial – and crucially dominant – straight-sets singles victories over Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain to ensure USA progressed from Group C on the basis of percentage of sets won. Collins maintained her unbeaten Billie Jean King Cup singles record, which now stands at 4-0, with victory over RTF’s Anastaslia Pavlyuchenkova in three sets, 6-7 7-6 6-2 in the semi-finals.

Viktoria Kuzmova (SVK)
Unfancied Slovakia produced one of the shocks of the group stage with a 2-1 victory over USA, with Viktoria Kuzmova at the heart of the win. A day after beating Carla Suarez Navarro in the nation’s 2-1 loss to Spain, the world No. 175 opened the tie against the Americans with a 6-4 6-4 victory over world No. 40 Shelby Rogers and returned for the doubles with Tereza Mihalikova, downing Caroline Dolehide and CoCo Vandeweghe 6-2 6-7 [12-10] for a famous victory.

Liudmila Samsonova (RTF)
Just 23 years old, Liudmila Samsonova emerged as Igor Andreev’s secret weapon in Prague, excelling on her Russian Tennis Federation debut at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, going unbeaten through five matches – an unparalleled achievement. Samsonova partnered Veronika Kudermetova to three straight-sets doubles victories, but it was her singles performance that truly stood apart, twice hitting back from a set down to beat former US Open champion Sloane Stephens in the semis and Belinda Bencic in the final to seal the title.

Storm Sanders (AUS) 
A member of Australian Billie Jean King Cup squads in the past without being selected for match action, Storm Sanders answered the call in Prague – and rose to the occasion. Installed as Alicia Molik’s No. 1 against Belgium with Ajla Tomljanovic ruled out by illness, the world No. 126 claimed the first Top-20 win of her career against Elise Mertens to secure a 2-1 group-stage victory, backing it up with a second singles win against Yuliya Hatouka of Belarus. Australia’s semi-final run moved to the top of the Billie Jean King Cup rankings for the first time. *This question is required. Please select one of the following images.
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