Tennis Ireland is delighted to announce the team to represent Ireland in Billie Jean King Cup Europe Africa Group II. The event will be hosted by Portugal, the winners of the group stage in 2022, from April 10th to 15th at the Jamor Sports Complex in Lisbon.
In 2022 Ireland gained promotion from Group III as a result of achieving a world ranking of 70.
The Billie Jean King Cup will be run using a round-robin format with a total of 11 teams taking part. The teams competing are:
Portugal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Israel, Kosova, Lithuania, Malta, South Africa and Ireland.
Algeria has withdrawn from the competition.
The 11 teams will be divided into two pools and the top two will be promoted to the Europe/Africa Group I for 2024.
Captain John McGahon said “We are excited to go and compete in Group II. Our Irish ladies have done a great job over the past couple of years in creating a very good team atmosphere, with a strong desire to play together and I look forward to captaining the team in Portugal.”
The team selected team for 2023 is as follows:
Celine Simunyu (Rials Tennis Academy, Barcelona)
Sinéad Lohan (Tramore Tennis Club and Carrickmines Croquet & Lawn Tennis Club)
Ruth Copas (Carrickmines Croquet & Lawn Tennis Club)
Caragh Courtney (Castleknock LTC and University of San Francisco)
Aisling O’Connor (Sutton Lawn Tennis Club and UCD)
Support staff for the team include:
Paul Casey – Assistant Coach
Aoife O’Neill – Physio
Lisa Murphy – Team Manager
Speaking of the Billie Jean King Cup, Celine Simunyu said “There is no greater honour than representing your country. We have been promoted to Group II and as a team we are ready for the challenge ahead.”
Tennis Ireland would like to congratulate each player on their well-deserved selection and wishes John McGahon and his team the best of luck in April.
Make sure to follow Tennis Ireland on social media for all the latest action in the lead up to and throughout the tie to get behind the girls in green.
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