Renee Alame relishes any opportunity to represent Australia, and this week, she will compete for her country at the Junior Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Santiago, Chile.
Alame, alongside Victorian Koharu Nishikawa and fellow Sydneysider Jizelle Sibai, aim to win Australia’s first title at the event since 2011.
Alame hopes to lead her country to victory having helped guide Australia to the quarterfinals last year.
“It feels great. Seriously, I can't even put it into words,” she said. “I think it's a big thing for me, because it's more than yourself. I know everyone would say you're representing not just yourself but a whole nation, a whole team, and it's your country, it's what you train for growing up.
“I'm just very honoured and excited to represent the green and gold, and I'll do my best to do it with pride and joy.”
The 16-year-old’s place in the Junior Billie Jean King Cup squad caps a breakout season. Alame has won three ITF junior titles in 2025, including a J100 singles tournament in Canberra and two J200 doubles titles – one in Nonthaburi, Thailand and one in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
She also received her first taste of junior Grand Slam success this year, recording first-round victories at the Australian and US Opens.
The Sydneysider believes her selection in the team is a well-deserved reward for her hard work this season.
“As soon as we qualified [in May], I think I knew I had a good shot [at making the team]. I was really confident in my ability and what I'd done already,” Alame said. “I know that I put in a lot of work, and I continued to do so after Kazakhstan.
“I just continued to work hard, and whatever came was a bonus.”
With a ranking of world No.51, Alame is Australia’s third-highest-ranked girl behind Emerson Jones and Tahlia Kokkinis. It allows more opportunities to play against some of the best juniors in the world, something she wants to become a regular occurrence.
“I enjoy it, I thrive in it, just to play [against] the world’s best, I think that I belong when I play these players,” Alame said. “It’s good to get to know different players, how they play, their mannerisms too.
“I’m going to be travelling a lot more, playing. I’m very used to playing internationally now.
The 2025 Junior Billie Jean King Cup will be played in Santiago, Chile, between 3-9 November.