British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

christ · Challenger qualifying

RE: Week 38 - 2025 Billie Jean King Cup Finals, Sjenzhen, China

indiana · Tennis legend

Having a good day ha. Err, corrected to singles.

telstar · Club Coach

indiana wrote:
To complete the 2025 story, Italy won both singles vs USA, as they probably had to, to retain the cup.

Cocciaretto beat Navarro by 6-4 6-4
Paolini beat Pegula by 6-4 6-2

Italy 2 USA 0

-- Edited by indiana on Monday 22nd of September 2025 01:17:50 PM

I thought that they could have lost one singles as their regularly successful doubles pairing would have been favourites in the doubles!

indiana · Tennis legend

telstar wrote:
indiana wrote:
To complete the 2025 story, Italy won both singles vs USA, as they probably had to, to retain the cup.

Cocciaretto beat Navarro by 6-4 6-4
Paolini beat Pegula by 6-4 6-2

Italy 2 USA 0

-- Edited by indiana on Monday 22nd of September 2025 01:17:50 PM
I thought that they could have lost one singles as their regularly successful doubles pairing would have been favourites in the doubles!

Sorry, I am having a 'mare since before the final yes I thought it was the USA that probably had to win the 2 singles. So don't know where that came from.

At least I got the result right, though folk might like to double-check.

wolf · Tennis legend

You don't think the current number 1 doubles player and an ex number 1 doubles player / current singles number 7 would have provided stiff opposition in the doubles?

indiana · Tennis legend

wolf wrote:
You don't think the current number 1 doubles player and an ex number 1 doubles player / current singles number 7 would have provided stiff opposition in the doubles?

Quite probably and no-one said otherwise, just that they reckoned the Italians would have been favourites.

the addict · Tennis legend

It would certainly have been a close match, but I think the Italians (as a regular pair) may well have edged it. Pegula doesn't appear to be in great form and she hasn't played a lot with Townsend (although they did beat the scratch team from Kazakhstan, Putintseva and Rybakina). The Italians play their best with good crowd support.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

GB has been drawn to play away versus Australia in the BJK Cup Qualifiers

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/articles/cr4k3k9e9q0o

These are in April - be interesting to see who is keen to play in that and who isnt - it will be in April, early in the European clay season

PaulM · Tennis legend

Horrible draw really - logistics and timing are a nightmare. No way Emma will play this.

Blue_Belle · Pro player

PaulM wrote:
Horrible draw really - logistics and timing are a nightmare. No way Emma will play this.

Might not be just Emma swerving it....

It's hard to see the future of this with the way the calendar is. I dont think DC is much better. There is zero logic to having the tie here. Would the Aussies even turn up!?

indiana · Tennis legend

Blue_Belle wrote:
PaulM wrote:
Horrible draw really - logistics and timing are a nightmare. No way Emma will play this.
Might not be just Emma swerving it....
It's hard to see the future of this with the way the calendar is. I dont think DC is much better. There is zero logic to having the tie here. Would the Aussies even turn up!?

Maybe the Aussies could play at 'home' in Europe! French clay

9vicman · Futures level

Australia also hosted a Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers group last year. They were at full strength, as were one of their opponents, Kazakhstan. Elena Rybakina prioritised BJKC over Stuttgart, and Kazakhstan reached the finals.

Don't get me wrong. The dates would be tricky wherever they are in the calendar. But you can't have a home-or-away format, and then be upset when you're drawn away. People complain about an eight team finals at a neutral venue, and complain about home-and-away in inconvenient venues. You can, but it's not very solution orientated.

Personally I don't think Emma would definitely play even if the tie was played in her front garden. Some people get team competitions, others don't. There was a really nice atmosphere among the GB team last year, and they did so well to reach the semifinals. It must be so frustrating to have to wait to see if a certain player will grant you with their presence.

dodrade · Futures qualifying

9vicman wrote:
Australia also hosted a Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers group last year. They were at full strength, as were one of their opponents, Kazakhstan. Elena Rybakina prioritised BJKC over Stuttgart, and Kazakhstan reached the finals.

Don't get me wrong. The dates would be tricky wherever they are in the calendar. But you can't have a home-or-away format, and then be upset when you're drawn away. People complain about an eight team finals at a neutral venue, and complain about home-and-away in inconvenient venues. You can, but it's not very solution orientated.

Personally I don't think Emma would definitely play even if the tie was played in her front garden. Some people get team competitions, others don't. There was a really nice atmosphere among the GB team last year, and they did so well to reach the semifinals. It must be so frustrating to have to wait to see if a certain player will grant you with their presence.

She just played for GB two weeks ago when she could have gone to Auckland or Brisbane instead.

Blue_Belle · Pro player

I believe you get ranking points for United Cup which won't hurt either!

-- Edited by Blue_Belle on Thursday 22nd of January 2026 01:18:11 AM

Lambda · Masters Series Champion

I think the $100,000 participation fee, $45,000 match win prize money and $6,000 per player team win prize money is far more the reason that Emma played the UC rather than the other options than any attraction that she would be representing GB. She would have to have made the final in Brisbane to get more then the $106,000 she earned at the UC which, I'm sure, she would have been expecting it would have been more with a couple of match wins.