Howdy, y’all and Happy Tennis Tuesday! The Italian flag flew high in Shenzhen, China this past Sunday as the red, white and green successfully defended their Billie Jean King Cup title with a commanding 2-0 victory over the United States. As a result, Italy captured its sixth BJK Cup title and cemented its status as the world’s premier women’s tennis nation.
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The Italian juggernaut rolled through the Americans without dropping a set in the final, thanks to stellar performances from its singles players. Elisabetta Cocciaretto stunned Emma Navarro in the opening match 6-4, 6-4, despite her world ranking of No. 91. The upset victory gave Italy the crucial early momentum it needed as the No. 1 singles matchup was between Top 10 players Jasmine Paolini and Jessica Pegula. It took four match points, but Paolini cemented herself as Italy’s clutch player with her own straight-sets win in the battle of former Grand Slam finalists.
This marks Italy’s third consecutive Billie Jean King Cup final appearance, having won the title in 2024 and now successfully defending it in 2025. Italy reached the final after coming from behind to beat Ukraine 2-1 in the semifinals, with Sara Errani and Paolini winning the deciding doubles. The United States had to save match points in its opener against Kazakhstan before downing Great Britain in the semifinal.
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What makes Italy’s recent success even more remarkable is how they’ve built this program from the ground up. Just a decade ago, Italy was considered a fringe contender in women’s team tennis. Now, it’s become the gold standard with a winning culture that spans multiple generations of players.
The Azzurre’s tactical flexibility has been key to their success. Captain Tathiana Garbin has shown an ability to adapt her lineups and strategies based on matchups, surface conditions and momentum. Whether it’s deploying the experienced Errani in doubles or trusting younger players in pressure moments, Italy has consistently made the right decisions when championships are on the line.
With this victory, Italy joins an exclusive club of nations to win back-to-back BJK Cup titles in the modern era. The big question now becomes: can they make it three in a row? Given the trajectory of their top players and the continued development of their supporting cast, there’s every reason to believe Italy will remain the team to beat in 2026.
The United States, meanwhile, will be looking to regroup and challenge Italy’s supremacy. With emerging talents and veteran leadership, the Americans proved they can reach finals. Now, they need to find that extra gear to get over the line and add to their record 18 titles .
For tennis fans, Italy’s reign has brought a new level of excitement to the BJK Cup. Their passionate, attacking style of play and team chemistry have elevated the competition and reminded everyone why team tennis remains one of the sport’s most compelling formats each year.
Now, on to links!
This week in women’s tennis
The WTA is celebrating Gladys Heldman and the Original 9’s 55th anniversary of their $1 contracts that paved the way for what the WTA has become today.
Iga Swiatek captured her 25th career WTA title at the Korea Open with a massive comeback victory over Ekaterina Alexandrova. In doubles, Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova reunited to overcome Caty McNally and Maya Joint to claim another crown together.
At the WTA 125 level, Oleksandra Oliynykova and Polina Iatcenko won the biggest titles of their careers in Italy and Portugal, respectively.
Not long after making countless headlines for being on the receiving end of unsavory comments, Taylor Townsend had to issue her own apology after offending many Chinese fans for her poor take on the country’s food choices at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.
Katerina Siniakova returns to the No. 1 ranking in doubles, spending her 161st career week at the helm — currently fourth all-time.
Beatriz Haddad Maia is ending her season early after injury and illness have plagued her 2025 campaign.
Katherine Hui, who won the junior U.S. Open in 2023 before playing two seasons at Stanford, has elected to turn professional and has signed with Octagon. On top of an injury-riddled 2025 season, she hasn’t played a professional match since July 2024 so I’d be lying if I wasn’t scratching my head here
Victoria Mboko graced the cover of Rolling Stone Africa and I have a feeling it won’t be the last cover we’ll see of the young Canadian.
Madison Keys will be a judge on an upcoming episode of Beat Bobby Flay this year.
USTA 18s champion Alyssa Ahn spoke to the local San Diego PBS outlet about her experience playing in the U.S. Open this year as a wildcard
Tweet of the week
Congrats to Daria, Luke and Tofu!
Five at The IX: Billie Jean King Cup Finals
Q. Winning two titles in a row is a huge deal. It’s creating a legacy for Italian tennis as other great teams from Italy has done. How important does that feel, to inspire the next generation of Italian players?
JASMINE PAOLINI: Yes, it’s amazing. I still cannot realize that. It’s amazing to show how we fight on court. We try to do our best. I think to play for the national team, it’s something that I was watching, I was dreaming to do.
Hopefully many, many girls are going to start to play tennis. I think tennis in Italy is growing a lot. Hopefully we are going to inspire some little girls.
Q. Tathiana, this is the third final in a row. What do you think this says about your team and the legacy in Italian tennis?
CAPTAIN TATHIANA GARBIN: [I] like to have these [girls] with me. They fight every ball. Every time they wear the national jacket, they put extra efficiency on court.
I think it’s historical moment for the Italian tennis, not just men. Today again they show how strong they are when they have a dream and they running for the same dream. They building a great unity. I’m just lucky to be here and be present with these magnificent girls.
Q. Lindsay, this has been a really positive week overall for you as a team. What are the biggest learnings you’re going to take personally from this experience?
CAPTAIN LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I mean, every team is so tough here. I mean, we were match points down in our first match against Kazakhstan. If Emma doesn’t beat Putintseva, who knows what happens.
But happy that we made a great run here. We felt like we had a great opportunity today. But, man, both of those ladies played great tennis. Congratulations to them.
We’ll just keep trying. We’ll get another chance hopefully next year to be back here in Shenzhen. We’ll hopefully learn from today. Hopefully these players go on to play great in the rest of the year. I look forward to watching the year play out for all the Americans.
Yeah, it’s been a great week. Tough day, but a great week.
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Q. Jessica, what has it meant to represent USA in these Finals for you this week?
JESSICA PEGULA: It’s been awesome. I mean, that’s why we come to play these things. We know we’re not just playing for ourselves, you’re always playing for something bigger.
In my experience, playing these events, playing Olympics, has always been such a different feeling, something that is a privilege to be a part of. There’s only so many times you get the chance to do that.
So for me, it’s always so much fun. We were telling each other before the matches today, when do you really get a week to do this. It makes it so much more fun, even when you win or lose, to be able to share it with somebody.
I think that’s always what is really special. We had a great group of girls this week. It means a lot to be able to just represent and kind of represent together, which is cool.
Q. You’re playing in the semifinal of the Billie Jean King Cup, the first match. That’s pressure. Knowing that Elina has to come out and face Jasmine Paolini, does that add the pressure on you to make that positive start for the team?
MARTA KOSTYUK: Well, for sure. When the score is even, you want to make sure that the team leads as Elina goes into the match. I think it’s a very different emotion for her and for Jasmine starting the match being up, kind of have this positivity, less pressure of like, If I lose this match, we lose the tie. Obviously it’s important.
But I don’t think it’s healthy for me to think this way. I really just tried to think about this particular match that I have to play, that it doesn’t decide anything.
It’s also a team competition. I play for the country. It’s already more responsibility than we usually carry. I don’t want to find more things to be responsible for (smiling).
I think I really just tried to focus on doing my job. We have a really good team. I just trust them, believe in them, and cheer for them, hoping they can do well, too.
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