What is the Billie Jean King Cup? History, all-time winners of tournament considered ‘World Cup of women’s tennis’

The 2025 Billie Jean King Cup will see some of the leading female players on the planet compete in the annual team tournament regarded as the ‘World Cup of tennis’.

This is the fifth year of the BJK Cup in its current guise but the tournament’s rich and exciting history dates back to 1963, when the Federation Cup was launched in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation.

The name of the week-long competition changed in 1995, becoming the Fed Cup, before being rebranded in 2020 in honour of tennis legend Billie Jean King, who helped the USA win the event six times as a player, once as a playing captain and three times as captain.

There have been 13 different winners of the competition down the years, with the USA and Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic leading the way, thanks largely to their combined domination of the event around the 1970s and 80s when between them they won 15 of 16 editions.

This year saw a record 146 teams enter to compete in the BJK Cup — now the world’s largest annual international competition in women’s sport — with eight nations making it through to this month’s Finals.

Here’s all the key information to know about the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup.

MORE: Latest tennis news | Who are the teams competing at the 2025 BJK Cup Finals? | Billie Jean King Cup 2025 format and schedule

Where are the 2025 BJK Cup Finals being held?

This year’s competition is being held in China for the first time ever — and the first time in an Asian country since Japan (Tokyo) in 1989 — and that will be the case for the next three years at least with the city of Shenzhen being given hosting rights until 2027.

But that is breaking with tradition, with the event having usually been staged in different countries each year.

The inaugural Federation Cup was held at Queen’s Club in London and has since found homes in a host of different cities around the world, including Melbourne, Philadelphia, Athens, Johannesburg, Sao Paulo and Moscow. 

Most successful Billie Jean King Cup nations

USA comfortably lead the way with 18 triumphs as the most successful nation in the tournament’s history, while they have been runners-up a further 12 times. Their run of seven successive titles between 1976 and 1982, when Billie Jean King was a key member of the line-up, is one of a number of tournament records USA hold.  

Second in the list is Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic with 11 wins, courtesy of two periods of almost total domination in the 1980s and then again 2010s. Remarkably, they have won all but one of the 12 finals they have played, only losing to USA in 1986.

However, the Czechs will not be able to add to their list this year after failing to qualify, while the next two most successful countries, Australia (seven wins) and Soviet Union/Russia/RTF (five wins), are not involved either. 

Which teams are looking to win BJK Cup title for the first time this year?

Of the eight nations involved in the 2025 BJK Cup Finals — which has been reduced from 12 teams last year to mirror the men’s Davis Cup — only the USA, Spain and Italy have been crowned champions previously.

That means hosts China, Ukraine, Japan and Kazakhstan, none of whom have even reached a final before, along with four-time runners-up Great Britain will be looking to etch their names on the trophy for the first time.

Should those teams need inspiration then they don’t have to look too far back, with Switzerland (2022) and Canada (2023) both first-time winners in recent years.

Billie Jean King Cup 2025 favourites to win

Italy head to Shenzhen as the top-ranked side having won in Malaga last year after finishing runners-up in Seville in 2023. Four of their title-winning side are back in action in 2025 — Jasmine Paolini, Elisabetta Cocciaretto, Lucia Bronzetti and Sara Errani — so captain Tathiana Garbin’s side should fancy their chances.

They could face tough opposition though, with second seeds Great Britain looking to improve on last year’s semifinal run and the likes of Jessica Pegula (USA), Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) and Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) adding star power to their respective teams.

The USA look the biggest threat as they seek to win only their second title since 2000, with Lindsay Davenport having named a powerful team.

World number three Coco Gauff may be missing but Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro are riding high in the WTA singles rankings and Taylor Townsend is the top-ranked doubles player in the world.

Billie Jean King Cup Heart Award

The Heart Award, first presented in 2009, aims to “recognise players who have represented their country with distinction, shown exceptional courage on court and demonstrated outstanding commitment to the team” during BJK Cup events.

There are six different annual winners of the award from various stages of the tournament, including the Finals, Play-offs and Qualifiers, and the award is decided by the public voting on a shortlist of nominees.

The previous four winners of the Finals’ Heart Award are Italy’s Jasmine Paolini (Italy), Leylah Fernandez (Canada), Storm Sanders (Australia) and Belinda Bencic (Switzerland).

Billie Jean King Cup all-time winners’ list 

Here’s a look at the previous winners of the Billie Jean King Cup in all its iterations.