Fed cup
Current season, competition or edition: 2017 Fed Cup
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| Sport | Tennis |
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| Founded | 1963 |
| No. of teams | 8 (World Group) 99 (total 2016) |
| Countries | ITF member nations |
| Most recent champion(s) |
 Czech Republic (10th title) |
| Most titles |
 United States (17 titles) |
| Official website | fedcup.com |
Fed Cup is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched in 1963 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The competition was known as the Federation Cup until 1995. The Fed Cup is the world's largest annual women's international team sports competition, in terms of the number of nations that compete.
The men's equivalent of the Fed Cup is the Davis Cup. Australia, Czech Republic and the United States are the only countries that have held both the Fed Cup and Davis Cup at the same time.
Dating back to 1919, Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman came up with the idea for a women's team tennis competition. Although rejected, she went ahead and presented a trophy at the 1923 annual contest between the United States and Great Britain, named the Wightman Cup.
Nell Hopman, wife of the legendary Australian Davis Cup Captain Harry Hopman, later took up Mrs. Wightman's original idea. however it was in 1962, when a British resident of the United States, Mary Hardwick Hare, presented a dossier proving that support for such an event was overwhelming, persuading the ITF that it was a 'good idea' to have a team championship played over one week in a different venue each year. 40 years after Wightman's idea of a women's Davis Cup, it become a reality. In 1963, the ITF launched the Federation Cup to celebrate its 35th anniversary. Open to all nations the competition became a resounding success.
The inaugural event attracted 16 countries. The competition was supported by the top players right from the start. Held at the Queen's Club, in London, the first contest was between Australia and the United States. Grand Slam champions Darlene Hard, Billie Jean King, Margaret Smith and Lesley Turner all proudly representing their country on court. The United States would emerged the champion nation in the opening year, however it was to be Australia in the early years, winning seven of the next eleven championships. Around 1980 the United States was able to establish some significant mark on the competition setting in future years a very high standard for others to compete against.
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Wikipedia