Team US With Gauff & Pegula Learn Schedule For Billie Jean King Cup

Friday, 14 April 2023 at 00:50

Updated at Thursday, 13 April 2023 at 23:16

byZachary Wimer

With two players in the Top 10 on the WTA Tour, the United States team is always considered a favourite at the Billie Jean King Cup.

Last year, their Billie Jean King Cup Finals participation was plagued by the absence of Jessica Pegula and also the last-minute appearance of Coco Gauff, who certainly wasn't 100% fit after a 23-hour journey shortly before her match, as both players had to compete at the WTA Finals and the scheduling of the team competition finals didn't do them any favour.

Now, the team enters the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers and it's ready to showcase all the talent as the world no. 3 Pegula and world no. 6 Gauff are ready to shine in the Delray Beach Tennis Center from April 14th to 15th against Austria.

In the first singles match of the tie, American no. 2 Gauff will take on Austrian no. 1 Julia Grabher. In the second singles match, and last match that will be played on Friday, the American no. 1 Pegula will take on Austrian no. 2 Sinja Kraus.

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On Saturday, the players will swap opponents as first Pegula will meet Grabher and then Gauff will play against Kraus. If the score is tied after the first four matches, doubles will decide with Danielle Collins and Caty McNally facing Melanie Klaffner and Sinja Kraus.

Since Gauff and Pegula are the world no. 3 and 4 in the doubles, it's expected that the nomination could change for the doubles match, and also all nominations for the singles matches are subject to last-minute changes. Ahead of the tie, US captain Kathy Rinaldi said:

“We're not taking this lightly. We're going in prepared. We're going to prepare like we prepare for any other tie, not be overconfident. We have a lot of respect for our opponents. I'm sure they're going to come out and play at their best, and that's what we're going to try to do, too, play at our best.”

On the other hand, Austrian captain Marion Maruska is aware that he's facing an almost impossible task as both Gauff and Pegula are ranked inside of the Top 6 in both singles. She said:

“I have a lot of memories [of defeating USA in 2002]. We were the complete underdogs. Some of our players couldn't play that week. We only played against top 10 players. The whole week we were talking about it first for fun, then it came true, especially after the first day when we were up 2-0. I have great memories, of course, because it was a big surprise. The Austrians, the press, nobody came because everybody thought we were going to lose.”