Before I had a sense of vocation about devoting my life to tennis, I didn't know a thing about the Fed Cup (or for that matter, the Davis Cup).

So great was my ignorance that I supposed that the "Fed" in the name was shorthand for a title sponsor, namely FedEx. However, that's not the case. It doesn't stand for the FedEx Cup, or even the Federer Cup. In reality, the "Fed" stands for Federation, which points to the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the governing body that sanctions the year-long tournament.

To avoid confusion, keep in mind that in 1995, the Federation Cup was officially renamed the Fed Cup. Glad we got that out of the way. One important distinction between the Fed Cup and the Davis Cup is the tie structure. In Davis Cup, each tie lasts three days, with two singles matches played on Friday and Sunday, and the doubles on Saturday. However in Fed Cup, the doubles is the final rubber to be played, after all four singles matches have been completed.

'The early versions of the Fed Cup exclusively featured contests between the United States and Great Britain, but in 1963, the event was expanded to a true international competition in order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ITF'

Consequently, the doubles match - always of great importance to the men (it either ends the tie or gives one side a big boost/lead going into the final day) - is more frequently relegated to an exhibition on the women's side. Nowhere was this more evident than in the first round of this year's Fed Cup World Group stage, where all four winners won their ties 5-0.

The early versions of the Fed Cup exclusively featured contests between the United States and Great Britain, but in 1963, the event was expanded to a true international competition in order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ITF. In spite of this, the U.S. has continued to dominate, winning 17 Fed Cup titles. The next highest total goes to the Aussies, who have won seven times, but none since 1974.

Since the turn of the century, however, these old firms have given way to a number of different title-holders, many of whom had never claimed the Fed Cup before. This list includes Belgium (2001), Slovakia (2002), Russia (2004 and 2005), and the current defending champions, Italy.