TEAM USA LOOKING FOR RECORD 18TH FED CUP TITLE

The most successful nation in Fed Cup history will look to rewrite the record books once again next month when it goes in search of its 18th title.

The U.S. has won more Fed Cup titles (17) and more Fed Cup ties (148) than any other country and it owns a 148-36 overall record in the annual team competition.

A win against first-time finalists Belarus in Minsk would increase Team USA’s record further. It would also mean the U.S. has more titles than any other nation has Fed Cup finals appearances.

Only one other country – the defending champion Czech Republic, which the U.S. defeated in April’s semifinal – has won double-digit Fed Cup crowns (10). And just three other nations – Australia (17), Spain (11) and Russia (11) – have appeared in 10 or more finals.

The U.S. last won the Fed Cup in 2000, sweeping Spain at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas to retain the trophy it won with victory over Russia 12 months earlier. The 17 years and counting between titles surpasses Team USA’s previous long drought of six years without a championship, set between 1970-75.

It has been seven years since the U.S. was last in the final in 2010, also the longest stretch in team history.

The U.S. went four years, 1970-73, without contesting the championship match despite reaching three semifinals and one quarterfinal, and it missed the final five straight years from 2004 to 2008, including four consecutive semifinal defeats (three of which came against Russia).

The past few years have been difficult on the U.S. Fed Cup team, which was relegated from the World Group twice in four years. But former captain Mary Joe Fernandez guided Team USA back into the World Group in her final year at the helm, in 2016, sweeping first Poland and then Australia to give the U.S. and new first-year captain Kathy Rinaldi a chance to compete for the title once more.

The last U.S. captain to win the Fed Cup in his or her first year was Marty Riessen, who accomplished the feat in 1986. Only five other U.S. captains have replicated the achievement – Williams Kellogg, 1963; Rosalyn Greenwod, 1966; Donna Floyd Fales, 1967; Vicki Berner, 1977; and Chris Evert, 1980.

Belarus, meantime, is looking to become the 12th different country to lift the trophy, and the eighth to do so in its first finals appearance.

***

For full coverage of the Fed Cup final, visit usta.com/fedcup, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube and watch on Tennis Channel.  The final will be broadcast live on Saturday, Nov. 11, at 6:30 a.m. ET and Sunday, Nov. 12, at 6 a.m. ET.