Former world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport has been confirmed for another two years as the captain of the American Billie Jean King Cup team, following a notable campaign in 2025 where they finished as runner-up behind Italy.
Although the Americans once again ended empty-handed in the women’s team competition, they achieved a positive campaign by returning to a final, despite the absence of several of their stars, such as Coco Gauff, Madison Keys, Amanda Anisimova, or Sofia Kenin.
The 3-time Grand Slam champion took over as the American team captain starting in 2024, replacing former world No. 7 Kathy Rinaldi. After an initial two-year period, the USTA decided to extend Davenport’s contract for another two years, following a satisfactory campaign in the last Finals. “It’s an incredible honor to serve as U.S. Billie Jean Cup Captain, and I’m thrilled and humbled to continue doing it, especially during such an amazing time for women’s tennis in America,” Davenport said.
In 2024, the Americans overcame the preliminary phase without setbacks—defeating Belgium 4-0—but were unlucky in the Finals, falling in the first round against Slovakia. For 2025, they managed revenge, qualifying through the play-offs by defeating the same Slovakians and Denmark, and then advancing to the Finals.
For the BJK Cup Finals held in September of this year, the United States relied on Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro as their main weapons, joined by McCartney Kessler, Hailey Baptiste, and doubles world No. 2 Taylor Townsend. Along the way, they defeated Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan and Katie Boulter’s Great Britain to return to a final after seven years since the last time.
However, they could not overcome the Italian team—who were defending the title—and lost both singles matches: Elisabetta Cocciaretto pulled off the surprise by defeating Navarro, while Jasmine Paolini completed the task by overcoming Pegula in the second singles match—both victories in straight sets.
The challenge of breaking the title drought
The United States team is by far the one that has won the most trophies in the Billie Jean King Cup and its previous equivalents (Federation Cup, Fed Cup). However, over the last 25 years, they have only won one trophy (finishing as runner-up on five occasions). In that same period, the Czech Republic and Italy achieved six titles each, while Russia secured another five.
Although the Americans have always fielded one of the strong teams in every Billie Jean King Cup, they only managed to return to a final in 2025—the first since they were defeated by the Czech team in 2018. Their next challenge will be in the April qualifiers, where they will face a home tie against one of the teams advancing from the play-offs—including Canada, Poland, and Czechia.
