Fed Cup

The Fed Cup is an international women's team tennis competition first contested in 1963. The event is similar to the men's Davis Cup, featuring teams of players representing a nation in head-to-head play with other nations. As of 2012, 80 nations compete annually, with the top eight playing in the three-stage World Group I competition.

The defending Fed Cup champion is the Czech Republic, having won its seventh championship (including those won as Czechoslovakia) in 2012. The United States has the most Fed Cup championships, with 17, but has not won since 2000.

History

The Fed Cup has its roots in international competitions first held in 1923 between the United States and Great Britain. In 1963, the ITF launched the Federation Cup to celebrate the organization's 50th anniversary, opening the competition to all nations.

The United States and Australia dominated the early competitions. Australia won seven times in the first 12 years the Federation Cup was held, while the U.S. won five times in that span. Powered by Chris Evert, Tracy Austin and Billie Jean King, the U.S. won seven consecutive Federation Cup titles between 1976 and 1982, still the longest consecutive win streak by any nation.

Originally, the Federations Cup was played between 16 nations in a week-long competition at a single venue, which rotated on an annual basis. In 1992, the Federation Cup had expanded to enough nations to create regional qualifying competitions. In 1995, the event underwent a complete restructure, changing its name to the Fed Cup in the process. The new format matched that of the men's Davis Cup, with rounds being played at different stages throughout the year in a home-and-away format, rather than the one-week, one-site format of the Federation Cup.

Structure

Currently the Fed Cup nations are divided up into three zones: American, Euro/African and Asia/Oceania. The American and Asia/Oceania zones are divided into two groups, with the Euro/African zone being split into three groups. Teams from the lower groups compete in zonal competitions to move up to the higher World Groups.

The 16 top nations are split into World Group I and World Group II. World Group I -- the group that competes for the Fed Cup -- is comprised of the four semifinalists from the previous year and the four winning squads from the World Group I playoff.

The four nations that lose in the World Group I quarterfinals move on to the World Group I playoff, where they're joined by the four winning nations from the World Group II first round, to compete for the final four spots in the following year's World Group.

The four World Group II teams that lose their first-round tie fall into the World Group II playoff, where they compete with four teams from the zonal competitions to secure a World Group II spot for the following year.

Ties

In World Group I and World Group II, ties consist of five matches played over the course of two days. The first day features two singles matches, and the second day features the reverse singles matches. The doubles match is played last.

All ties take place on the chosen home ground of either the higher-seeded team or a team chosen by lot. The first round takes place in the early part of the year, with the semifinals being played in the spring or summer and the finals near the end of the season.

The zonal competitions are a round-robin, three-match format, taking place at a single venue early in the year, allowing time for the teams to be promoted to the World Group playoffs.