{"id":18899,"date":"2023-10-10T00:26:27","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T16:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/?p=18899"},"modified":"2023-10-10T00:28:39","modified_gmt":"2023-10-09T16:28:39","slug":"australian-team-announced-for-the-2023-billie-jean-cup-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/news\/2023\/10\/10\/australian-team-announced-for-the-2023-billie-jean-cup-finals","title":{"rendered":"Australian Team Announced for the 2023 Billie Jean Cup Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian captain Alicia Molik has named the team for the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge Finals in Seville, Spain next month.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kimberly Birrell, WA’s Storm Hunter, Daria Saville, Ajla Tomljanovic and Ellen Perez will represent Australia at Estadio de La Cartuja from 7 to 12 November 2023, with Olivia Gadecki also travelling with the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m incredibly proud to name Kim, Ajla, Dash, Ellen and Storm for this team,\u201d said Molik, who will lead Australia\u2019s Billie Jean King Cup for the final time.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we always do, Australia punches above their weight. We reached the final last year and we have huge ambitions to go one further and win the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know we\u2019ve had an interrupted past 12 months with various injuries to Alja and Dash, but we have so much experience in this team. I really feel like in the clutch moments they can be relied upon.<\/p>\n

\u201cStorm, as world No.2 in doubles, puts us in great stead too. We have a versatile bunch which I\u2019m really proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Billie Jean King Cup Finals 2023\u00a0<\/strong>
\nAustralian team<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Player<\/em><\/td>\nSingles ranking<\/em><\/td>\nDoubles ranking<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kimberly Birrell<\/td>\nNo.102<\/td>\nNo.295<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Storm Hunter<\/td>\nNo.155<\/td>\nNo.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Daria Saville<\/td>\nNo.211<\/td>\nNo.164<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ajla Tomljanovic<\/td>\nNo.430<\/td>\n\u2013<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ellen Perez<\/td>\nNo.456<\/td>\nNo.25<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Captain: Alicia Molik<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Molik is honoured to lead the team for the final time, following the announcement that she will step down as captain after 10 years in the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I can\u2019t wait to get to Seville because being part of the Australian team has always been a highlight for me, whether it be as a player or as a captain,\u201d Molik said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be trying to get the most out of my players. It doesn\u2019t change for this upcoming tie. The goal is to do as well as we possibly can and show the world what we are made of.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of stepping down from my role, there is still unfinished business in Seville. I\u2019m going to give it my all. I\u2019m excited by the prospect of the challenge once again, which I always have been.\u201d<\/p>\n

> READ: Alicia Molik \u2013 A proud Billie Jean King Cup legacy<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

For Australia\u2019s No.1 woman Kim Birrell, Seville will mark her third nomination for Australia\u2019s Billie Jean King Cup team.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old, who made her top-100 singles debut last month, is delighted to return as part of the fold for the first time since February 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means so much to be selected to represent Australia at Billie Jean King Cup,\u201d Birrell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a huge goal of mine to make it back on the team. Especially while injured I spent a lot of time thinking about wearing green and gold again, so I\u2019m absolutely over the moon to picked in this year\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to spending time with the girls and especially the rest of the group and really just enjoying the team atmosphere. And more importantly, playing really good tennis and leaving it all out on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia headlines Group B and faces Slovenia in its opening round-robin tie on 7 November, followed by a showdown with Kazakhstan on 9 November.<\/p>\n

> READ: Australia\u2019s Billie Jean King Cup schedule revealed<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Australia is among 12 nations competing in the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup Finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian captain Alicia Molik has named the team for the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge Finals in Seville, Spain next month. Kimberly Birrell, WA’s Storm Hunter, Daria Saville, Ajla Tomljanovic and Ellen Perez will represent Australia at Estadio de La Cartuja from 7 to 12 November 2023, with Olivia Gadecki also travelling with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6359,"featured_media":18900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6359"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}