Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 9 April 2025 | Matt Trollope

The Australian Billie Jean King Cup team’s past and future intersected in Brisbane on Wednesday as Maya Joint was officially welcomed into the team.

The 18-year-old debutant received her Australian team jacket from the legendary Lesley Bowrey, who represented Australia in its very first tie in 1963 at London’s Queen’s Club and who went on to captain the team from 1994 to 2000.

Joint, selected to travel to last year’s Billie Jean Cup Finals in Malaga as the Aussie team’s Orange Girl, becomes the 58th player to be selected to represent the green-and-gold in the competition.

Bowrey was the second, after teammate Margaret Court in that inaugural 1963 tie against Belgium.

“It was amazing, such an honour to be able to be a part of this team, and I’ve always dreamed of playing for my country and playing in the green-and-gold,” Joint said at Australia’s team press conference ahead of Thursday’s clash with Kazakhstan at Pat Rafter Arena.

“To be able to meet Lesley was amazing, and I’m super excited to be here.”

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Added team captain Sam Stosur: “I think it was a really nice moment for Maya to receive her jacket.

“She was asking where it was earlier in the week, I heard (laughter). She thought she was missing out.

“For someone like Lesley to be here and present it, I think that’s something we should try and continue to do, because we should recognise our legends of the sport. Not just in Australia, but the sport in general, and we’ve got so many of them here in Australia.

“I think it’s a nice sort of full-circle moment for everyone involved.”

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

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

Joint’s ascent from Aussie team Orange Girl at last year’s Finals in Malaga to fully-fledged team member just five months later is emblematic of her rapid ascent in the game.

She cracked the top 100 earlier this year and currently sits at a peak ranking of world No.78, making her the second-highest WTA ranked teenager in the world behind Mirra Andreeva.

Joint carries impressive form and momentum into the Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers event, having already won 19 singles matches in 2025 and reached at least the quarterfinal stage of four tournaments, including two and tour-level.

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“I definitely bring a lot of confidence in from having those great results, but [I’m] just focusing on the potential match in front of me and hope that I can play well,” Joint said.

“I think I’ve been playing well this week and I’ve had some great practices here, and so have the other girls. We’ve all been playing very well.

“I’ve been doing a mix of singles and doubles practice, just been doing some specifics. We tell the coaches what we want to work on, and they make it happen.”

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For Bowrey, now 82, she looks forward to watching the action unfold this week at Pat Rafter Arena – and possibly the debut of a rising star with whom she now shares a Billie Jean King Cup connection.

“It takes time for the girls to really get up there now; there’s a lot of players from different countries all playing, so it’s very competitive,” said Bowrey, who will also watch Australia take on Colombia on Saturday.

“I think there’s a good future for Australian women’s tennis from here on.”

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.