Halep, Pliskova headline Fed Cup nominations
Simona Halep of Romania and Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic headline the official team nominations for the 2019 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group and World Group II first round ties taking place on 9-10 February.
Eight nations will compete in the World Group for a place in the semifinals on 20-21 April, as well
as a guaranteed place in the top-tier for 2020. The four winning nations from World Group II and
the four losing World Group nations will play the World Group play-offs on 20-21 April. The four
losing World Group II nations and the promoted nations from Zone Group I events will compete in
the World Group II play-offs, also on 20-21 April.
Fed Cup events will also be taking place earlier in the week with Zone Group action around the
world from 6 February. Zone Group I events will be held in Poland, Great Britain, Colombia and
Kazakhstan and one Zone Group II event in Luxembourg.
In total, 53 nations will be competing in Fed Cup events next week with 242 players selected to
represent their nation – including several players ranked in the WTA Top 20.
As well as Halep and Pliskova - both former World No.1s - the selections include France's Caroline Garcia, Belarus's Aryna Sabalenka, the USA's Madison Keys, Australia's Ashleigh Barty, and Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova.
Belarus also include another former World No.1, Victoria Azarenka, while the USA's squad features 2019 Australian Open semifinalist Danielle Collins, and Latvia select former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.
