Coco Gauff is in.
Gauff, the 22-year-old Delray Beach icon, will compete for the USA’s Billie Jean King Cupteam when it hosts a qualifying match in her backyard at the Delray Beach Tennis Center on Nov. 21-22, The Palm Beach Post has learned.
Billie Jean King Cup coach Lindsay Davenport said in August she expected to announce most of the roster soon after the U.S. Open. It is believed one holdup is waiting on whether Venus Williams and Serena Williams, who live in Jupiter, will play doubles for USA - but sources still consider that a longshot.
The Williams sisters played doubles at the U.S. Open, losing in the first round. Serena came out of retirement at Wimbledon to play singles, losing in the first round, but hasn’t competed since the Open doubles defeat.
The full five-person roster will be announced on October 21. Jessica Pegula, who lives in Boca Raton, is also a top candidate.
"Of course, nothing is off the table,'' Davenport told The Post in August regarding the Williams sisters.
It was largely expected Coco would be back in the BJK Cup fold after not playing in 2024 or 2025. USA didn’t make it to the 2026 Finals despite the country’s glittering amount of talent. This BJK King matchup against Hungary is a qualifier to get back into the 2027 tournament.
Recently, it was announced Coco will partly own – and play – for a South Florida team in the newly resurrected World Team Tennis league that opens play in December.
Coco Gauff now part of the Florida Flamingos
Coco, a two-time Grand Slam champion, is part of the Florida Flamingos, who will play matches at the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise. The two other teams in the league are based in Toronto and New York. Pegula, born in Buffalo, will play for New York.
Gauff didn’t win a major in 2026 but came on strong late in the U.S. Hardcourt summer series, winning the WTA title in Cincinnati and then advancing to the U.S. Open semifinals before losing to eventual champion Elena Rybakina in a three-setter.
The BJK Cup format has a best-of-five match series with four singles and one doubles match with the winner advancing into pool play for the 2027 event. Czech Republic won the 2026 BJK Cup last month.
Delray Beach has provided a strong home-court advantage for the USA women’s team. The U.S. Billie Jean King Cup team is 4-0 all-time there. The last such victory came in 2023, when Gauff and Pegula led a sweep of Austria in front of near sell-out crowds.
Two-day ticket packages for the Saturday-Sunday event are on sale at Ticketmaster.com. Single-day tickets for Saturday or Sunday go on sale Oct. 7. Saturday features two singles matches. Sunday has the doubles and two singles matches.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: BREAKING: Coco Gauff will compete for USA Billie Jean King Cup team
