{"id":231605,"date":"2025-09-16T14:54:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T14:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/231605\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T14:54:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T14:54:13","slug":"lindsay-davenport-reveals-what-every-usa-player-has-been-saying-to-her-about-playing-the-billie-jean-king-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/231605\/","title":{"rendered":"Lindsay Davenport reveals what every USA player has been saying to her about playing the Billie Jean King Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Billie Jean King Cup has returned, with the USA among the eight teams aiming to lift the trophy in Shenzhen, China.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The USA have won the Billie Jean King Cup<\/a> more than any other nation, but were last victorious back in 2017.<\/p>\n

Italy enter the team tournament as the defending champions, having clinched the trophy in Malaga last year.<\/p>\n

But many eyes are on the USA given their history at the event and their star-studded team, which will be led by captain Lindsay Davenport<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She has called upon Jessica Pegula, Emma Navarro, McCartney Kessler, Hailey Baptiste and Taylor Townsend in a bid for success.<\/p>\n

\"JessicaPhoto by Robert Prange\/Getty ImagesWhat every USA player has been saying to Lindsay Davenport about the Billie Jean King Cup<\/p>\n

And Davenport has now shared insight into her selections ahead of the event, along with her verdict on it being played in September, compared to November in 2024.<\/p>\n

She responded: \u201cEvery single lady up here said yes immediately. That\u2019s what makes this event so exciting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems schedule-wise this is fitting in a lot better for the players. It\u2019s obviously such a tough year with schedules and traveling and being away from home.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Former world number two set to play for the first time since Wimbledon after injury comeback at the Billie Jean King Cup<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis part of the calendar seems to be working a lot better, at least from the organizational standpoint. Everyone appears looking forward to then going on to Beijing and some other tournament then here in Asia.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest thing as a captain is I want players who want to be here, want to play, look forward to representing their country. I definitely have that with the five up here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TaylorPhoto by Robert Prange\/Getty ImagesLindsay Davenport gives her opinion on Kazakhstan\u2019s Billie Jean King Cup team<\/p>\n

Davenport knows all about success as a player, having won three Grand Slam titles and reached number one in the world rankings.<\/p>\n

But while she now has many talented players at her disposal, the USA have been handed a very tricky quarterfinal opponent.<\/p>\n

They will take on Kazakhstan first up in Shenzhen, a team which includes Elena Rybakina and Yulia Putintseva.<\/p>\n

Sharing her take on that side, Davenport said: \u201cYeah, obviously coming here any of your potential seven opponents are going to be really tough. Obviously Kazakhstan with both Rybakina and Putintseva and [Zarina] Diyas, they\u2019re a great team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know it\u2019s going to be a big challenge. We\u2019ll have to decide. It\u2019s only Monday still. We\u2019re looking forward to playing Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a few days and the ladies have a few days to get acclimated here. I expect that Rybakina and Putintseva will be playing singles for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll go over all of our lineups and matchups. I\u2019m so blessed to have such a deep team and so many options.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully we\u2019re here for the long run. But obviously a tough opener for us on Thursday. Hopefully we\u2019ll be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TENNIS-GBR-WIMBLEDON-TROPHY\"Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON\/AFP via Getty ImagesJessica Pegula shares how she feels about the Billie Jean King Cup being played in September<\/p>\n

But while Kazakhstan will likely post a real threat, it is the USA who boast the highest-ranked players in the tie.<\/p>\n

Townsend is currently the world number one in doubles, while Pegula occupies seventh place in the WTA singles rankings.<\/p>\n

Offering her take on the event being played in September as the Asian Swing starts, Pegula said: \u201cLike Lindsay, it\u2019s kind of worked out a little bit better for my scheduling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last few years, I wasn\u2019t able to swing it making year-end Finals and stuff like that. It was really crammed into the back end of the schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was sick one year, hurt the other year. It gets tough. I feel this is a much better way to start off the Asian Swing for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really thinking too much about the next couple tournaments. I think our focus is this week. I really love playing these events.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to do well and help the team win as best I can. Yeah, I\u2019m excited to actually play the first Final for me. It\u2019s really exciting and I\u2019m looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given the rankings, Pegula is set to take on world number 10 Rybakina first up in Shenzhen, which should set the tone for an exciting tie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Billie Jean King Cup has returned, with the USA among the eight teams aiming to lift the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":231606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[117763,68133,62,1464,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-231605","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-billie-jean-king-cup","9":"tag-lindsay-davenport","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115214553514748349","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}