UNITED CUP

January 4, 2026

Tim Henman

Billy Harris

Katie Swan

Neal Skupski

Olivia Nicholls

Team Great Britain

Press Conference

Great Britain - 2

Japan - 1

THE MODERATOR: Congrats to everyone. Great effort. Tim, as the captain, can you give your thoughts on the team's performance today.

TIM HENMAN: The team from start to finish today were absolutely brilliant. From my point of view, I wanted them to come in and compete for every ball and compete for every point, play with the right attitude. There wasn't one point today they didn't do that.

I thought the quality of all the matches were first class. This is why they put in the hard work on the practice court, in the gym, to give themselves the opportunity to show their skills on an amazing stage like that.

Yeah, I couldn't be happier. Couldn't be more proud of each and every one of them.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up to questions.

Q. Neal, what do you think it says about the team that you're able to pull out this result today with the way you played?

NEAL SKUPSKI: Yeah, I mean, it's never easy playing your first match of the season. As Tim said, everyone fought hard today. We worked for every point. Obviously Billy started us off with a great win over Mochizuki. Katie had a great first set against Naomi, who is obviously a great champion. Yeah, it was 1-All. Came down to me and Liv.

We tried to stay positive, stay together, keep the communication high. We had great support from the bench. That's kind of what I think got us over the line.

Yeah, we got another match tomorrow against a very tough Greece side. We're very much looking forward to it.

Q. Billy, you said that you only learnt you were going to be playing here Christmas Eve or something.

BILLY HARRIS: That's right.

Q. What was your plan before this?

BILLY HARRIS: No, I was going to come as number two anyway. I was ready to play just in case. But yeah, great that I got the opportunity, got the win for the team today, as well.

Q. What were you happiest about with your performance today?

BILLY HARRIS: It wasn't all pretty tennis. But just kept my focus and fought for every point. Tim was good on the bench, kept me concentrated on what I needed to do. Yeah, I was happy with how I finished off the match.

Q. Tim, a word on Emma pulling out today. Could you give any kind of insight on how she is and what the issue was?

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, she struggled with her foot for the end of last year. The improvement that she's made has been fantastic. She's been practicing in London, really only doing static drills, to be out on the practice court and moving and playing games. She is very close.

In terms of tomorrow, it's still a little bit up in the air. We're kind of forced to put Emma on the list because if we didn't do that, then that only gives us one option.

When we get back tonight, we'll discuss it as a team. I think Katie did such a good job today. You think about her journey over the last 12, 18 months, to be out there against a Grand Slam champion on a big stage like that in a huge event representing her country, I thought her performance was brilliant.

Look, I'm very happy whoever plays. Likewise whether it was Billy or Jan, they've both been practicing great. We do have options. We'll just have to wait and see.

Q. Katie, how good and helpful was that to feel your level against such a great player, such a competitive and high-quality match today?

KATIE SWAN: Yeah, obviously disappointed with the outcome, but I'm taking so many positives from the experience as a whole. It was great for me to come out after Billy got the win because it took some pressure off my result, for Team GB. I had full confidence in our doubles team that they were going to do it, as well.

Yeah, I really enjoyed the match. I relaxed into it quite fast. It was great to see that my level can compete with someone as great as Naomi. She's obviously achieved so much in her career.

It's been a tough journey for me to get back to a stage like this, as well. This time last year, I wasn't playing tennis at all. To be here, have Tim on the side again, such great teammates.

Emma, obviously this was supposed to be her match, but she was amazing as support on the bench. Her coach as well. I was really grateful to have the support that I did.

Yeah, if it's me tomorrow, I'll go out there and do my absolute best again. Having this match under my belt today will really help, too.

Q. Olivia, to go out there and play the mixed doubles when the tie was on the line, do you relish that pressure? Can you still enjoy the battle?

OLIVIA NICHOLLS: Yeah, I mean, I think you have to. If you don't, you're probably going to roll over.

I mean, after the performances that the singles guys put out today, amazing win from Billy, brilliant fight from Katie, I think me and Neal just really wanted to back that up with another great performance to get us over the line and win the tie.

Yeah, I think we're just really chuffed with how today went, how we all competed. The support from the bench really, really managed to push us over the line. Chuffed to get the win today and really looking forward to the next one.

Q. Tim, watching you down on the sidelines, you're obviously quite energetic, particularly compared to some of the other captains. How are you finding this challenge, finding the role, trying to put your own spin on things without going over the top?

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, it's not a challenge at all. It's an absolute pleasure. I think when you talk about competing each and every point, you want to enjoy that challenge. I've loved it. I've been involved in this event before. I was so happy to come back. It's my first visit to Perth.

When you have a great team like this, who are not only great players, but they play with the right mentality, the right attitude, it's a lot of fun.

At the end of the day you go out there and give it your best shot, it's all you can do. That's exactly what they all did today.

We had things go our way. We had a couple of fortunate moments. But you earn those opportunities. So yeah, we'll enjoy this victory, but we'll be ready to go again against Greece tomorrow.

Q. Tim, well played on the timeout thing. I don't know how much of a difference it actually made.

TIM HENMAN: I think that was the most significant moment of the day personally (smiling).

No, it's something that is new to the event this year. I don't think it's been used a massive amount. Just before the tiebreak started, I sort of said, Perhaps there will be an opportunity. Japan kind of beat us to the punch. But we responded after they had the timeout.

Yeah, when we had our timeout, it was a good opportunity to finish things off. So yeah, I think it adds to the drama.

Q. Like regular matches, even when someone ties their shoelaces, people think it's gamesmanship. Is it nice to have something in the game to check the temperature of an opponent?

TIM HENMAN: Yeah, it's obviously only in the doubles that you can use the timeout. Yeah, I think it's a good option. I think it was great actually that both teams had left it to the deciding tiebreak to utilize them.

But we're just very, very happy with the result.