Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 8 April 2025 | Matt Trollope

Ellen Perez revealed that, like most Australian players, she had marked this week’s Billie Jean King Cup competition in her calendar when mapping out her 2025 playing schedule.

When confirmation of her selection arrived in March, Australia’s top-ranked women’s doubles player was thrilled at the prospect of embarking on her eighth tie in the international teams competition.

“Any time we play for Australia, it’s a big event,” Perez said on this week’s episode of The Sit-Down podcast.

LISTEN: Ellen Perez on The Sit-Down

“The time that we can put the green-and-gold on, it’s the biggest event we have in Australia for tennis, besides obviously the Australian Open – it’s a time where it’s a team sport and we’re playing for something bigger than ourselves.

“I think it’s a different environment too. It’s not like the Australian Open; you’ve got everyone in the stands, pretty much, hopefully sided for Australia, but then there’s the opposing side – you have sometimes nations bring huge crowds and cheer squads, and that atmosphere is kind of unmatched.

“I think it’s something worth seeing if you haven’t before. There’s nothing better than getting behind your country.”

TICKETS: Get tickets to the Billie Jean King Cup via Ticketmaster

TIE INFORMATION: Australia – Colombia – Kazakhstan

OFFICIAL PROGRAM: Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers (AUS-COL-KAZ)

Perez has been preparing for the Billie Jean King Qualifier, in which Australia faces Kazakhstan and Colombia, at the Queensland Tennis Centre since Saturday.

She flew to Brisbane last week after a training period in Melbourne, where she was joined on court by teammate Storm Hunter – a potential doubles pairing when the action gets underway this Thursday.

“I actually got a surprise extra week of training in here [in Melbourne],” said Perez, the doubles world No.20 who already has a WTA title under her belt in 2025.

“Obviously didn’t do as well in Miami as I’d like, but that meant I could come home early and really get back onto the hard court and begin preparations.

“I’m super close with all those girls [in the Australian team]. I think [Maya Joint has] just grown over the last couple of months, and she’s playing amazing. And Kim [Birrell], she’s really hit her stride, she’s playing super well. You’ve got the experience with Ajla [Tomljanovic] and even Storm, she’s someone who absolutely rises to the occasion at every Billie Jean King Cup.

RELATED: Tomljanovic better for Billie Jean King Cup experience

“So it’s great to get back on court with them, and all those girls have an amazing attitude and personality.”

Perez, at age 29, is among the more experienced players in the Aussie squad, along with Hunter (30) and Tomljanovic (31).

But at the opposite end of the experience spectrum are teenagers Joint and Emerson Jones, the Australian team’s Orange Girl this week in Brisbane.

That age range, plus talent and results across both the singles and doubles disciplines – Perez and Hunter are both former top-10 doubles players, Tomljanovic is a three-time major quarterfinalist in singles, and Birrell and Joint have hit singles career-high rankings in 2025 – leaves Perez feeling buoyed about Australia’s prospects, both this week in Brisbane and beyond.

READ MORE: Birrell thrilled to “smash through” top 100 goal

STORM HUNTER: Hitting well, feeling good, meeting goals

“I think we’re in a very good place with Australian women’s tennis,” she said.

“We maybe don’t have that person at the very, very top, like we did when we had Ash Barty, but I think we’re really on that trend to growing and coming through together; I think right now we have maybe four or five Aussies in the top 100, which is amazing to see.

“The depth is getting a lot stronger. And we definitely have a very young team – I think there’s a lot of room to grow. Maybe there were some years when we lacked a bit of depth, but I think we’re in a really good place right now and all of us have kind of come through together, so we’re really close.

“And we do have that experience on both sides, the singles and the doubles, so I think that’s super important in a format like this, to have myself and Storm, who both play really good doubles, and any one of those girls in the singles know how to play great doubles, too, and do their thing in the singles.

“So I’m looking forward to it – I think we’re in a really good place and really happy.”

Australia faces Kazakhstan on 10 April and Colombia on 12 April at Pat Rafter Arena. Get your tickets via Ticketmaster and follow the action on 9Gem and 9Now.