The Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge and Davis Cup Junior Finals get underway in Santiago, Chile on Monday with teams bidding to be crowned the world’s best in the 16-and-under age category.

The Finals are the culmination of a season-long competition which has seen nations navigate qualifying events across five regions – Asia/Oceania, Europe, Africa, South America and North/Central America and the Caribbean.

It is the first time that the Finals, which will take place alongside each other at Estadio Nacional from 3-9 November, will be hosted in South America since 2001 when Santiago was the host city.

The 16 nations that will contest 2025 Billie Jean King Cup Junior Finals are: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Chinese Taipei, Czechia, France, Great Britain, Japan, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Peru, Poland, Romania and USA.

The 16 nations that have qualified for the 2025 Davis Cup Junior Finals are: Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, P.R., Chinese Taipei, Czechia, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Rep., Slovakia, Spain, Turkiye and USA.

In both competitions, teams will be split into four groups. Three days of round-robin action will follow and the top two nations from each group will advance to the knockout stage.

The quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals – as well as the positional play-offs – will then take place following a scheduled day off.

As ever, there are some intriguing storylines. The United States head into the Billie Jean King Cup Junior Finals bidding for a record extending 10th title and a fourth in succession. No nation has ever won four titles in a row.

The United States look a formidable proposition with newly installed junior world No. 1 Kristina Penickova in their team alongside her twin sister Annika and former junior world No. 1 Julieta Pareja.

Kristina Penickova finished as the runner-up at last week’s ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals, while Jana Kovackova was another player to feature in Chengdu and she will spearhead Czechia’s team.

Meanwhile, Romania – last season’s runners-up in both Billie Jean King Cup Juniors and Davis Cup Juniors – are back for another crack at glory, as are some nations who have not qualified for the Finals for some time.

Austria will make only their second appearance at the Billie Jean King Cup Junior Finals having qualified for the first time since 1995, while Poland are back after a nine-year absence.

Incidentally, the last time Poland reached the Finals – in 2016 – they lifted silverware with a team that included Iga Swiatek, who has proceeded to win six Grand Slams and risen to No. 1 in the WTA Rankings.

In total, there will be five nations on show at the Billie Jean King Cup Junior Finals – Australia, Czechia, France, Poland and USA – that have won the competition previously

At the Davis Cup Junior Finals, there will be nine nations on show that have previously lifted silverware, although that is no guarantee of glory this time around.

As in Billie Jean King Cup Juniors, the United States are the defending champions but not since 1993 when France achieved the feat have a nation won back-to-back Davis Cup Junior titles.

Within their ranks, the United States have Michael Antonius and Jordan Lee, who were both part of the victorious United States team at the 2024 ITF World Junior Tennis Finals in Prostejov, Czechia.

ITF World Junior Tennis is the leading international team competition for players aged 14 and under, and there are others on show who have competed in ITF World Junior Tennis, showcasing the effectiveness of the competition on the player pathway.

There promises to be some wonderful tennis on show, while it might be worth keeping an eye on Slovakia, who have qualified for the Finals for the first time since 2009. Their captain is Miloslav Mecir, whose father won gold at the 1988 Olympic Tennis Event.

Talking of captains, hosts Chile will be captained at the Davis Cup Junior Finals by Guillermo Hormazabal, who competed for his nation when Chile won this competition on home soil in 2001.

Kazakhstan's Billie Jean King Cup Juniors team, meanwhile, will be captained by former world No. 25 Yaroslava Shvedova as she continues her coaching odyssey.

On a final note, previous Davis Cup Juniors and Billie Jean King Cup Juniors winning teams have featured Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Swiatek, Ashleigh Barty, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Coco Gauff.

This back catalogue of top players further underlines the importance of the event in terms of player development, and the class of 2025 are raring to follow in the esteemed footsteps of their predecessors.