Spanish Billie Jean King Cup team meets World Cup champion Maria Perez Rabaza
She called the experience 'a great honor' while wishing her compatriots luck at what's now being billed as the 'women's World Cup of tennis.'
The Spanish Billie Jean King Cup team rubbed shoulders with World Cup winner Maria Perez Rabaza before kicking off their campaign at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Seville.
On Wednesday, Perez—who is on loan to Seville's women's La Liga club—toured the Estadio de La Cartuja venue with tournament director Conchita Martinez; met with Spanish players Paula Badosa and Marina Bassols Ribera; and was introduced to King, to whom she presented with a Spain football kit that was signed by the World Cup winning team.
The 21-year-old defender called the experience "a great honor" while wishing her compatriots luck at what's now being billed as the "women's World Cup of tennis."
"Everyone knows Billie Jean is an icon of women’s sport and I was pleased to meet her and the Spanish players," she said. "We were so proud to win the football World Cup for Spain this year, and I hope our amazing tennis players can do the same in the World Cup of tennis.”
King, who watched Perez's Spanish team win the World Cup in Australia in August, was equally complimentary to her.
“We are so pleased to welcome Maria to our event today," she said. "What she and her teammates achieved earlier this year was amazing, and I hope her presence here today, and the success of the entire Spanish team, is an inspiration to athletes from all nations.”
Unfortunately for Anabel Medina Garrigues' side, the meet-and-greet didn't bring them luck for their opening match: Canada beat Spain in Group C action, 3-0, with 18-year-old debutant Marina Stakusic stunning Rebeka Masarova 6-3, 6-1 and Leylah Fernandez edging Sara Sorribes Tormo in a pair of tiebreaks that lasted nearly three hours.