Rising Tennis ACT star Kaitlin Staines will use her junior Australian Fed Cup debut to prepare her for a step onto the senior circuit to see if she's ready to take on women.
Kaitlin Staines hopes the junior Fed Cup helps launch her on to the professional circuit. Photo: Jamila Toderas
Staines, 16, has been included in the junior female team to play a tournament in Delhi as she continues to carve out a promising career.
Staines' continued rise comes as Canberra's Nick Kyrgios moved to a career-high ranking of No.20 this week and announced he will play at the Queen's Club in preparation for Wimbledon.
Lake Ginninderra College student Staines hopes the junior Fed Cup will be a stepping stone to a future professional career.
Advertisement
Staines is ranked No.2 in Australia for her age group and played in the junior Australian Open singles and doubles earlier this year.
"When you're around 16 or 17 you look to test yourself overseas a little bit more," Staines said.
"I'd like to play of a few of the professional tournaments and keep working hard. Everyone takes a different step and I'm going to try to head overseas and see what's around and how I go against some of the older girls.
"I'm looking to head over to Thailand at the end of term two at school. There's a few professional tournaments over there so hopefully everything goes to plan.
"I'm excited for the chance to play Fed Cup. It's my first time representing Australia in a team so hopefully that goes well as well."
Staines will team up with Jeanette Lin and Jessica Zaviacic for the junior Fed Cup.
Meanwhile, Kyrgios will join grand slam champions Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and his nemesis Stan Wawrinka at the famous lead-in event.
The 20-year-old Kyrgios has gone up six places in the rankings on the back of an impressive semi-final showing at the ATP event in Miami last week and a maiden title in Marseille recently.
"Grass is my favourite surface," said Kyrgios, who lost to Wawrinka in the first round at Queen's last year but enjoyed a memorable second-round victory over Nadal at Wimbledon two years ago.
"I've had my best results on it, my expectations are high and I'm expecting some good results from myself at Queen's this year.
"The conditions are perfect, great preparation for Wimbledon, and all the Australians have played well there over the years. I'm pumped to be coming back."
Also taking part will be world No.12 Milos Raonic, who reached the Australian Open semi-finals this year. The tournament runs from June 13-19.