{"id":19434,"date":"2024-03-26T13:47:03","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T05:47:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/?p=19434"},"modified":"2024-03-26T13:47:30","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T05:47:30","slug":"taylah-prestons-rapid-rise-orange-girl-earns-billie-jean-king-cup-promotion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/news\/2024\/03\/26\/taylah-prestons-rapid-rise-orange-girl-earns-billie-jean-king-cup-promotion","title":{"rendered":"Taylah Preston’s Rapid Rise: Orange Girl Earns Billie Jean King Cup Promotion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Perth teen Taylah Preston has been selected to represent Australia for the first time in the Billie Jean King Cup competition.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Taylah Preston revealed she \u201ccouldn\u2019t stop smiling\u201d after finding out she was in the Australian team for the upcoming Billie Jean King Cup Qualifier tie against Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a bit nervous when I saw (Australian captain) Sam (Stosur) was calling me but luckily it was a very good phone call,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

It is the first time that the 18-year-old from Perth has been selected to represent Australia in the prestigious team competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying BJK Cup this season was definitely a goal for me,\u201d Preston said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was something my coach and I mentioned at the end of last year while doing my goals for the next few months, so I\u2019m super happy I can put a tick next to this goal on my list.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two years ago, Preston\u00a0was invited to accompany the Australian Billie Jean King Cup team during their finals campaign.<\/p>\n

The then 16-year-old filled the role of \u2018orange girl\u2019 in Glasgow, an unofficial and long-held Aussie tradition reserved for a promising player.<\/p>\n

At that stage in her young career, Preston had contested only eight professional tournaments and was ranked outside the world\u2019s top 600.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing orange girl was such an amazing experience for me,\u201d Preston recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely helped to motivate me to work hard and be able to be officially on the team as soon as I could.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually had a conversation at dinner one night in Glasgow where they asked me when I think I would be on the team, I\u2019m pretty sure I said \u2018a couple of years hopefully\u2019, so that\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite Preston\u2019s inexperience at the time, her talent and attitude left a lasting impression on experienced team-mate Stosur.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven as a 16-year-old\u00a0orange girl in that tie in Glasgow, she looked like she belonged,\u201d Stosur related.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat really stuck out for me. I had never met Taylah before that week, but she was professional, she was ready to go for every practice. Obviously, she knew she wasn\u2019t playing because she was the orange girl, but she put her hand up to do absolutely everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

It meant Stosur, Australia\u2019s new Billie Jean King Cup captain, had no hesitations selecting the now 18-year-old in the Australian team for the upcoming tie against Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exciting for Taylah to have the opportunity to be in the team,\u201d Stosur said.<\/p>\n

> READ: Australian team announced for Billie Jean King Cup Qualifier against Mexico<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Preston\u2019s promotion to the Australian line-up follows an impressive start to the 2024 season.<\/p>\n

Highlights include beating four higher-ranked opponents to reach her biggest career singles final at a WTA 125 tournament in Mexico, scoring a first top-50 win at the WTA 500 event in San Diego and extending world No.20 Caroline Garcia to three sets during the Australian summer.<\/p>\n

After starting the year ranked No.208 in singles, Preston now sits at a career-high world No.134.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sky\u2019s the limit,\u201d Stosur said of the teen\u2019s potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s really moving in the right direction. She\u2019s super professional already and looks like she really wants it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preston will make her Billie Jean King Cup debut in Brisbane from 12-13 April, when Australia faces Mexico in a must-win Qualifier tie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Perth teen Taylah Preston has been selected to represent Australia for the first time in the Billie Jean King Cup competition. Taylah Preston revealed she \u201ccouldn\u2019t stop smiling\u201d after finding out she was in the Australian team for the upcoming Billie Jean King Cup Qualifier tie against Mexico. \u201cI was a bit nervous when I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6359,"featured_media":19435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19434","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\/19434","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=19434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}