BILLIE JEAN KING CUP

September 15, 2025

Lindsay Davenport

Jessica Pegula

McCartney Kessler

Emma Navarro

Hailey Baptiste

Taylor Townsend

Team USA

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining the press conference with Team USA.

Captain Davenport, what are your thoughts on the week?

CAPTAIN LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Hi, everybody. Thanks for being here.

We're all so excited to be here. Looking forward to competing here in the Finals once again. I couldn't be happier to be here with these five ladies next to me. We have a great team. We have a great concept of how we want this week to look like.

It's been so exciting to be here in Shenzhen and see this great stadium, to be able to play here. I think we're all very appreciative and looking forward to it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Lindsay, a word on your opponents, Kazakhstan. Really strong team. Talk me through some of the matchups, what you're expecting.

CAPTAIN LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, obviously coming here any of your potential seven opponents are going to be really tough.

Obviously Kazakhstan with both Rybakina and Putintseva and Diyas, they're a great team. We know it's going to be a big challenge.

We'll have to decide. It's only Monday still. We're looking forward to playing Thursday. I have a few days and the ladies have a few days to get acclimated here.

I expect that Rybakina and Putintseva will be playing singles for them. We'll go over all of our lineups and matchups. I'm so blessed to have such a deep team and so many options.

Hopefully we're here for the long run. But obviously a tough opener for us on Thursday. Hopefully we'll be ready.

Q. Lindsay, first of all, you're lucky, because I think the girls would make it to the other teams of this competition. I would like to know, playing in September, compared to last year, how much was different for you in the nominations? What was the conversation with the girls that are here and the ones that are not here? I would like to know all the process.

CAPTAIN LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Every single lady up here said yes immediately. That's what makes this event so exciting. It seems schedule-wise this is fitting in a lot better for the players. It's obviously such a tough year with schedules and traveling and being away from home.

This part of the calendar seems to be working a lot better, at least from the organizational standpoint. Everyone appears looking forward to then going on to Beijing and some other tournament the here in Asia.

My biggest thing as a captain is I want players who want to be here, want to play, look forward to representing their country. I definitely have that with the five up here.

Q. McCartney, this is your first nomination. What is it like to be here with the team and travel out for the Finals, as well?

McCARTNEY KESSLER: Yeah, super excited to be here. I was supposed to play the qualifiers earlier this year and wasn't able to, unfortunately. When I got the call last minute, I was excited to jump on a plane and get here and play with these players.

Q. Jessica, I believe it's the first year that Billie Jean King Cup is played in September. How do you feel about it? Based on the rankings, you'll be the first singles, you play Elena. How are you going to prepare this match?

JESSICA PEGULA: Like Lindsay, it's kind of worked out a little bit better for my scheduling. The last few years, I wasn't able to swing it making year-end Finals and stuff like that. It was really crammed into the back end of the schedule. I was sick one year, hurt the other year. It gets tough. I feel this is a much better way to start off the Asian Swing for me.

I'm not really thinking too much about the next couple tournaments. I think our focus is this week. I really love playing these events. I want to do well and help the team win as best I can.

Yeah, I'm excited to actually play the first Final for me. It's really exciting and I'm looking forward to it.

Q. More of a general question, maybe for Taylor or Lindsay. Doubles obviously can play such a big part of this tournament and has such a big swing on so many of the results. I wonder how great is it to have depth in doubles, but also to have that importance placed on doubles in tennis generally.

TAYLOR TOWNSEND: We don't get a chance to play a ton of team events. When we're able to come and have the opportunity to put the team on your back, as we say, come in clutch, especially for the doubles when it counts the most, it's really fun. I enjoy it. I enjoy being a part of the team, equally being able to celebrate and cheer on my teammates. It's really fun.

I really enjoy when it comes down to the wire. Less stress is better, but when it comes down to the wire, we kind of all have to come together and be able to produce our best tennis on the doubles court, it's fun.

I've played against all of these ladies, played with a couple of them. I'll really excited to be on the same side with them, see what Lindsay comes up with with the matchups (smiling).

CAPTAIN LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I feel like I'm getting more experience in this role and learning more. A lot of thought went into making sure we had a lot of flexibility with all the teams out there. I have two great coaches with Matt Cloer and Jermaine Jenkins. We talked over all the different kind of scenarios.

We lost the deciding doubles last November. We obviously don't want that to happen again. Giving ourselves a lot of different looks and opportunities and matchups, really important in going with the team also.

We don't have many weeks of the year where the ladies can actually be on a team. It's our job to make sure that it's fun that the team atmosphere and the betterment for the team is really important for my players. That's what we're going to work on.

We still have three days of practice, so I'm not sure exactly what it's going to look like yet. But I know with everyone up here, I can say, you got to play singles, you got to play doubles today, this is what we're looking like. They can rock with it.

Q. Hailey, you made your debut in the qualifiers this year. You had a great week there. Can you talk to me about how important that was for you, your confidence. What was it like growing as a player to be part of a team like this with such a rich history, as well?

HAILEY BAPTISTE: Yeah, I mean, obviously I haven't had many opportunities to play on a team. I didn't play at school growing up. So it was really cool to be in that environment. Had such a good group with me. It was super fun. I'm just really excited to be able to do it again and support everybody.

Q. I know you guys just landed maybe yesterday. What does the downtime look like for you? How do you kind of bond and have a bit of fun away from the court?

CAPTAIN LINDSAY DAVENPORT: (Indiscernible) last night we were pretty sleepy (smiling).

JESSICA PEGULA: We're still trying to agree on a walkout song. We're baby steps with that (laughter).