Lindsay Davenport takes the helm in Billie Jean King Cup, succeeding Kathy Rinaldi

Lindsay Davenport will be the next American captain of the Billie Jean King Cup, succeeding Kathy Rinaldi.

Davenport is one of the legends of American women's tennis, being one of the five players who have ended the year as world No. 1 at least four times, sharing that honor with Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, and Serena Williams.

Representing her country in the Billie Jean King Cup, Davenport had a record of 26-3 in singles and 7-0 in doubles, helping the country win titles in 1996, 1999, and 2000, each with King as the captain.

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As Davenport mentioned, the title in 1999 was the most surprising one, defeating Russia in the final with the recently crowned US Open champion at the age of 17, Serena Williams, and her sister Venus

"Can you believe it? The media frenzy was really at an all-time high because of Serena; she had just won her first major. It was pretty awesome to be there and be a part of it," Davenport said

"I remember vividly all the Fed Cup ties and the winning and the camaraderie and some of the amazing teams I was able to be a part of," Davenport said. "And now I'm excited to be able to experience it from a different lens and try and be — well, I will never live up to, but try and be similar to — how Billie was as captain and see what kind of job I can do."

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The 3-time Grand Slam champion will replace Kathy Rinaldi, who has been the captain since 2016 and led the team to the title in 2017. The USTA announced in June that she would step down after this year's Billie Jean King Cup Finals are held in Seville but would remain as the director of their women's player development program.

"Hopefully I can lead with a certain amount of motivation and also hopefully we'll be well-prepared, we'll be ready to go," Davenport said. "I've had a couple of different captains; Billie was obviously the most energetic and the most inspiring. I'm not quite sure my personality is quite like hers, but certainly I'll try to be as motivating as possible."

Davenport also commented on Coco Gauff's great result at Flushing Meadows to win her first Grand Slam title, confirming the best moment of her career:

"Coco's result at the U.S. Open was just remarkable. It really felt so great for American women's tennis to see that happen, to see that play out," she said.

"There's been a lot of pressure on her the last five or so years to be able to accomplish that, and for that to happen at her home Slam is pretty awesome."

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American tennis legend Lindsay Davenport will be the next captain of the 🇺🇸 @BJKCup team. Let's do this, @LDavenport76!

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