I completely missed this when it happened, and if I hadn't been paging through a two-day-old sports section while waiting for coffee, I never would have known about it.
But the USA won the Fed Cup!
If you're now asking what the Fed Cup is, I don't blame you. Years and years ago, when amateur sports still had panache, the Davis Cup, the nation vs. nation tournament played by men was bigger than the Grand Slam tournaments. Because it was for king and country, don'tcha know. And it had some epic matches, too. John McEnroe was positively heroic for the USA in Davis Cup play, including a truly epic monster of a match against Mats Wilander. Because they play "real" tennis in the Davis Cup -- no tiebreakers. The McEnroe-Wilander match lasted 6 hours and 22 minutes and the score was 9-7, 6-2, 15-17, 3-6, 8-6. The USA went on to win the Davis Cup that year (1982) over Australia. And in 1987, McEnroe lost to Boris Becker 4-6, 15-13, 8-10, 6-2, 6-2.
So what's the Fed Cup? you are no doubt still wondering. Well, the Fed Cup is the women's version of the Davis Cup. It began in 1963; if you want to know lots and lots more, go here: Fed Cup - the World Cup of Tennis.
This is the actual Fed Cup:
The USA had won 17 Fed Cups, but none since 2000 -- which is a pretty long time for a country that has won 17 of them. So they finally won again over Belarus.
The hero was Coco Vandeweghe, who won both singles matches and was one of the partners in the deciding doubles match, paired up with Shelby Rogers.
Here's the story:
United States downs Belarus to claim first Fed Cup since 2000 and 18th overall
Sloane Stephens, though she played a rugged 4-6, 6-1, 8-6 match (the winner was Aliaksandra Sasnovich), lost both her matches. But she softened up Aryna Sabalenka with in a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 match on the first day.
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