By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
Missing it’s top three players who are all ranked in the Top 10, the United States Billie Jean King Cup team, the national tennis team for the USA, was defeated by Belgium 3-1 in the opening round of the 2026 competition played on indoor red clay in Ostend, Belgium. Eighteen-year-old rising American star Iva Jovic, the No. 4 ranked American player competing in her first career Billie Jean King Cup series, posted the same results of two other American tennis stars in their first ever Team USA matches – Pete Sampras and Jim Courier – losing both singles matches to lower-ranked players on the road.
Jovic, ranked No. 16 on the WTA Tour computer, lost her opening singles match in the best-of-five match series to No. 94-ranked Hanne Vandewinkel 7-6 (3), 6-3. With the U.S. trailing 1-2 on the second day of play and on the verge of elimination, Jovic then lost again to No. 149-ranked Greet Minnen 7-5, 6-3 which clinched the series for Belgium.
“For Iva being just 18 years of age and having to go out there and be the No. 1 player, that’s a lot to ask,” said U.S. BJK Cup captain Lindsay Davenport. “Keep in mind she’s never played a red clay-court season in the pros. So the players, we were just talking about it, she’s gonna learn from this, she’s gonna be better and stronger for this. Obviously, it hurts right now because she cares so much and she wanted to do so well. So we’re going to move forward with this and she’s going to have so many more opportunities out there, so looking forward to seeing her continue to grow and develop.”
Said Jovic after her match-clinching loss, “I’m really bummed, obviously, that I lost and didn’t help my team get those wins. It doesn’t feel great. I’m lucky I have the best team and they’re so supportive and so nice, but I wanted better for myself and for the team, and credit to them for playing good tennis.”
Sampras, the all-time great, famously lost his first two matches while playing for Team USA on the road in the 1991 Davis Cup final, losing to No. 159-ranked Henri Leconte and then the clinching match to No. 7 ranked Guy Forget in France’s 3-1 upset win over the United States in Lyon, France. Earlier that year, Jim Courier, another future Hall of Famer, lost to world No. 180 Leonardo Lavalle and No. 99 Luis Herrera in Mexico City as Team USA edged out a 3-2 win over Mexico.
Jovic was the top player on the Captain Davenport’s team, who was without world No. 3 Coco Gauff, world No. 4 Jessica Pegula and world No. 6 Amanda Anisimova, all of whom declined to play in this series. After Jovic lost in the opening match of the series, her teammate McCartney Kessler, the world No. 48 and the No. 10 player in the USA, was tied with world No. 20 Elise Mertens of Belgium at 3-3 in the third set before a back injury forced her to forfeit the match, putting Team USA down 0-2 and on the verge of defeat after the first day of play. The doubles team of Caty McNally and Nicole Melichar-Martinez kept the USA alive at the start of the second day of play by beating Mertens, the world No. 1 doubles player, and Magali Kempen 6-4, 6-2. However, Jovic was unable to stave off Belgium victory with her loss to Minnen.
Davenport and Team USA will now have to play a qualifying playoff round match in November to remain in the Billie Jean King Cup World Group for 2027 and be eligible to win a record-extending 19th championship since the competition was started in 1963.
