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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 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. == History == The idea for the event can be traced back to 1919, when Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman came up with the concept for a women's team competition. When this was rejected, she instead presented a trophy in 1923 for an annual contest between the United States and Great Britain, who were at that time the strongest tennis-playing nations, the Wightman Cup. Nell Hopman, wife of the legendary Australian Davis Cup Captain Harry Hopman, later took up Mrs. Wightman's original idea. 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, the ITF was persuaded that a team championship played over one week in a different venue each year was a 'good idea'. It had taken 40 years for Wightman’s idea of a women’s Davis Cup to become a reality. Finally in 1963, the ITF launched the Federation Cup to celebrate its 35th anniversary. Open to all nations and not just USA and Great Britain, the much awaited competition became a resounding success. Played over one week in a different venue each year, 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 between Australia and the United States set the tone with Grand Slam champions Darlene Hard, Billie Jean King, Margaret Smith and Lesley Turner all proudly representing their country on court. Although the United States emerged the champion nation in the opening year, it was to be Australia to show early ascendancy by winning seven of the next eleven annual championships. It was not until around 1980 before the United States was able to establish some significant mark on the competition, collecting, in all, a record 17 titles over the years to 2013. That first Federation Cup had attracted entries from 16 teams, a respectable number considering that there was no prize money and teams had to meet their own expenses. Sponsorship would later enable this number to expand dramatically, first by the Colgate Group in 1976, and, from 1981 to 1994 by the Japanese communications and computer giant NEC. By 1994, 73 nations competed, and the host nation of a Federation Cup week was now required to build a special tennis complex, giving rise to what became known as the Federation Cup "legacy." In addition to the kudos of showcasing the premier international women's team competition, nations viewed their involvement as providing an unprecedented opportunity for their national game to develop. The rise in entries led to the creation of regional qualifying competitions in 1992 and, subsequently in 1995, the Federation Cup adopted a new format and shortened its name to the Fed Cup. Having seen the great success that the home-and-away format had achieved in Davis Cup, the format for the Fed Cup was changed in 1995 so that women, as well as men, could play for their country in their country. While the format has been adjusted several times since 1995, the current format, introduced in 2005, incorporates an eight Nation World Group I and eight nation World Group II playing both home-and-away over three weekends throughout the year. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fed Cup」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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