A 15-year-old Talia Gibson was in the stands as the Culture Amp Australia Billie Jean King Cup team narrowly lost to France in the 2019 final in Perth.
Gibson witnessed an Australian outfit, which included her idols Ash Barty and Sam Stosur, fall agonisingly short of their first BJK Cup title in 45 years. It was an effort that inspired Gibson's ambition to wear the green and gold.
“Being inside the arena, it was completely full. It was super exciting to be there and watch the team do so well,” she told tennis.com.au. “I think from then on, it’s always been a goal of mine to be on the team.”
Six years on, the West Australian will achieve that goal when she represents Australia at the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup Play-offs against Brazil and Portugal in Hobart on 14-16 November. Gibson becomes the 59th player to play for Australia in the international team format, replacing Priscilla Hon, who withdrew due to injury.
“It was very exciting to get the call-up to be on the team. I’m really looking forward to it,” she said. “I was actually at the airport in Hong Kong [when she received the call from Nicole Pratt].
“It was an extremely huge shock and a lot of excitement in the moment to then be like ‘OK, change of plans, I’m now going to be going to Hobart to represent Australia’ [instead of playing an ITF tournament in Brisbane].
> READ: Gibson selected for BJK Cup debut
“I just want to really enjoy the experience, enjoy the moments and enjoy being with the girls, and spending a lot of time with the team. But also, getting a feel for what it’s like to represent your country, and hopefully in the future I get to do it many more times.”
Maiden selection for the BJK Cup team caps off a breakout year for the 21-year-old, who achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No.105 in August, and won ITF singles titles in Nantes, France and Granby, Canada. She also progressed through Grand Slam qualifying for the first time at Wimbledon.
Gibson’s 2025 season helped her gain more exposure to the world’s top players as she developed an understanding of what it took to reach the next level.
“I think just learning a lot from playing at the next level pretty consistently,” she said. “Being able to play a lot more top players this year, I’ve just learned a lot.
“That’s been a huge change, but I think just generally in my game, I’ve been able to improve everything to a certain degree, so I think that’s definitely helped.”
The BJK Cup Play-offs provide Gibson with the opportunity to learn from some of Australia’s most successful players this season. The remaining quartet – Maya Joint, Kimberly Birrell, Storm Hunter and Ellen Perez – all feature inside the WTA top 100 in their preferred format and have collectively picked up five WTA titles in 2025.
“All the girls are such amazing players; they’ve all had such a great year,” she said. “Maya and Kim in singles, doing extremely well, I’m able to look up to them in that sense and learn a lot from them, what they’ve been doing really well this year. And then Storm and Ellen, who are primarily playing doubles, I think that’s also something for me to be able to learn because I don’t play a lot of doubles.
“It’s a great experience to be able to be with all of the girls and learning different things from everyone.”
Watch the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup Play-off ties between Australia, Brazil and Portugal on 14-16 November on 9Gem and 9Now.