Serena Willams to play for U.S. at Fed Cup  

Just days after winning her first WTA title as a mother, Serena Williams has been confirmed as a part of the U.S. Fed Cup team that will take on Latvia in February's World Group Playoff tie. The matchup, scheduled for Feb. 7-8 at Angel Of The Winds Arena in Everett, Wash., will determine which team advances to the new-look Fed Cup Finals in Budapest, Hungary, this April.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion last played Fed Cup in February 2018 in her competitive return to tennis following the birth of her daughter. She holds a 13-0 record in singles and a 3-2 mark in doubles over 10 Fed Cup ties played since 1999, when she and sister Venus were a part of Team USA’s Fed Cup title-winning team. Williams is currently the top-ranked American woman in the world, at No. 9 in the WTA Rankings. 

The playoff tie against Latvia is a best-of-five-match series played over two days, with each country bringing a team of four or five players. The ‘tie,’ as it is called, begins at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7, with two singles matches between each country’s No. 1- and No. 2-nominated players. Two reverse singles matches, between each country’s No. 1s and each country’s No. 2s, and the doubles match will follow at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8.

The winner of this matchup advances to the 2020 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Finals, April 14-19, in Budapest—a new format for the Finals similar to the World Cup, in which 12 nations converge on one venue to compete for the title.

The U.S. team can feature as many as five players, and the final nominations must be made by 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Jan. 28. Captain Kathy Rinaldi will have plenty of star power to choose from, as the U.S. currently has seven women in the Top 30 of the world rankings.

Matches will be played at Angel Of The Winds Arena on a temporary indoor hard court, with an amended schedule possible for Saturday should one nation clinch victory in the third or fourth singles match. It will be the first time a Fed Cup tie is hosted in the state of Washington.

Tickets are available now. Two-day ticket packages for both Friday and Saturday—the best initial ticket value—will be sold at prices ranging from $50 to $250 or $25 to $125 per day. Single-day tickets for Friday or Saturday will be sold with prices ranging from $30 to $135 per day. Visit the USTA's Fed Cup homepage for more information.