Australia will begin its 2026 Billie Jean King Cup campaign in the Qualifiers stage against Great Britain.
Australia will host the tie on 10-11 April – the venue is still to be announced – against a team it has beaten in eight of 11 previous match-ups.
Should Australia win, it would advance to the eight-nation Finals, to be staged in China in September.
The Qualifiers ties will use a new competition format in 2026, outlined as follows on the official Billie Jean King Cup website: “Each Qualifiers tie will consist of two singles matches on day one, and doubles first on day two followed by two singles matches.
“This marks the first time in the competition’s history that live doubles matches will be guaranteed and further aligns the competition’s format with the Davis Cup.”
Most recently, the Aussies and the Brits met in the 2022 semifinals in Glasgow, with Australia clinching victory in a deciding rubber to advance to the final, where Switzerland prevailed. Prior to that, the most recent meeting between the two nations was 1981.
Both teams have impressive rosters of eligible players from which to choose, with team nominations expected to be confirmed a month out from the tie.
Australia’s world No.29 Maya Joint is joined in the top 100 by Ajla Tomljanovic and Kimberly Birrell, while Maddison Inglis and Talia Gibson have risen to the cusp of the top 100 after their eye-catching AO 2026 performances.
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Storm Hunter has returned to the world’s top 250 in singles while rising to No.27 in doubles, just behind fellow Aussie Ellen Perez, the doubles world No.21.
Perez, Hunter, Gibson, Birrell and Joint were all named in the Australian team that beat both Brazil and Portugal in November’s Play-offs, ties staged at Hobart’s Domain Tennis Centre.
Joint, in her first appearance as Australia’s No.1 singles player, recovered from 6-2 5-3 down against Laura Pigossi, and saved a match point late in the second set, to seal Australia’s win over Brazil – a result propelling the team into the Qualifiers stage in 2026.
Great Britain, meanwhile, has a similarly strong roster of players to call on for April’s tie, with top-30 star Emma Raducanu ranked ahead of world No.61 Sonay Kartal and 66th-ranked Francesca Jones.
Team stalwart Katie Boulter, currently ranked world No.120, is another option, as is top-30 doubles player Olivia Nicholls.