{"id":520246,"date":"2026-03-05T12:01:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T12:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/520246\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T12:01:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T12:01:16","slug":"billie-jean-king-cup-returns-to-melbourne-after-15-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/520246\/","title":{"rendered":"Billie Jean King Cup Returns to Melbourne After 15 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Billie<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0\u2013\u00a0
\n\t\t\t\tJr. Staff Writer\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\u00a0\u00b7\u00a0
\n\t\t\tMarch 5, 2026<\/p>\n

Melbourne Park is set to serve up international tennis once again, with Australia to host Great Britain in a highly anticipated Billie Jean King Cup qualifier this April\u2014the first time the world\u2019s premier women\u2019s team tennis competition has returned to Melbourne in 15 years.<\/p>\n

The two-day tie, running from 10th\u201311th April at John Cain Arena, will decide who advances to the Cup Finals in China later this year. <\/p>\n

Maya Joint Leads The Aussie Charge<\/p>\n

\"BillieSource: Supplied<\/p>\n

Leading the home team is 19\u2011year\u2011old Maya Joint, who\u2019s quickly established herself as Australia\u2019s top-ranked woman and a rising star on the world stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an amazing feeling to represent your country,\u201d Joint said. \u201cTo be able to do it again in Australia is just super special. It\u2019s going to be such an amazing atmosphere and I can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

Home Advantage For Hunter And Stosur<\/p>\n

\"BillieSource: Supplied<\/p>\n

Maya will be joined by Storm Hunter, the doubles specialist and fan favourite known for her grit and green\u2011and\u2011gold pride. <\/p>\n

Moreover, Team captain Sam Stosur, an eight\u2011time Grand Slam champion, confirmed Hunter\u2019s spot and praised the team\u2019s youthful energy alongside Joint\u2019s rapid rise through the ranks.<\/p>\n

\u201cStorm brings a wealth of experience to the team and always represents herself and the country with pride,\u201d Stosur said. \u201cMaya is currently our No.1 player and has had such a fast rise up the rankings. It\u2019s fantastic to have her back representing Australia once again.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, Hunter said there\u2019s nothing like competing in front of a home crowd. \u201cFor me, the best weeks of the year are wearing the green and gold. We want to make Australia proud\u2026 we\u2019re going to give it everything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A Weekend Dedicated To Tennis<\/p>\n

\"BillieSource: Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, with no AFL fixtures in Melbourne that weekend, organisers say the qualifier offers an energetic and affordable alternative for families keen to experience live sport.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the tie will feature a best\u2011of\u2011five\u2011rubber format\u2014four singles matches and one doubles\u2014played over two days, each best of three sets.<\/p>\n

Australia sits among the tournament\u2019s most storied nations, ranked No.12 in the world and holding seven Billie Jean King Cup (formerly Fed Cup) titles, behind only the United States and Czechia. <\/p>\n

The team has finished runner-up twice in recent years, in 2019 and 2022, and last faced Great Britain in 2022, edging them out in a tense doubles decider.<\/p>\n

The last time the Cup came to Melbourne, back in 2011, Ukraine stunned the home side 3\u20132\u2014something the current squad will be eager to avenge as they look to reclaim their place among the sport\u2019s elite.<\/p>\n

So, tickets to the Billie Jean King Cup go on sale from 24th February at 5.00pm AEDT, with prices starting at $23 and free entry for kids 12 and under.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0\u2013\u00a0 Jr. Staff Writer \u00a0\u00b7\u00a0 March 5, 2026 Melbourne Park is set to serve up international tennis once…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,259625,85,747],"class_list":["post-520246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cheap-tickets","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}