Fed Cup captain Kathy Rinaldi on leading Team USA

“The pros and the cons of having so many great American players is OK you have a great pool of players to pull from but you can’t take them all. And so I would say when people ask me what the toughest part of the job is, that is it."

U.S. Fed Cup captain Kathy Rinaldi sits down for an in-depth chat with Nina Pantic and Irina Falconi at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Fla. She captained the U.S. team to Fed Cup victory in 2017, and the final in 2018, and will lead the team in Tokyo in 2020. Rinaldi covers all the ins and outs of her job, from spending time on court to making team selections to adapting to Fed Cup's 2020 changes. 

Before transitioning to coaching, she reached as high as No. 7 in the world, winning three WTA titles and reaching the semifinals of Wimbledon in 1985. The 52-year-old knows a thing or two about prodigies, having been the youngest player to win a Wimbledon match in 1981. She also knows what it's like to be a new mother on tour, relating to today's super moms like Serena Williams. 

She's risen steadily in her roles at the USTA, and was named the Head of Women's Tennis in 2018. Throughout her coaching career, she has worked with almost every American female player including Sloane Stephens, Sofia Kenin, Madison Keys, CoCo Vandeweghe, Alison Riske and many more. 

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