History

When Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman established the International Ladies' Trophy, better known as the Wightman Cup, in 1923, she hoped it would eventually become a true international trophy. But that never happened. Instead, the Wightman Cup matches were limited to teams from Britain and the United States, in part because Wightman opposed having professional players involved.

By the early 1960s, women's tennis was emerging as a genuinely international sport. Nell Hopman, the wife of Australia's Davis Cup captain, began campaigning for international team competition for women's players. The International Lawn Tennis Federation in 1963 agreed to the idea and scheduled the first such tournament at the Queen's Club in June of that year.

The ILTF established a trophy for the event, originally known as the Federation Cup. Sixteen national teams entered the first tournament, which was conducted over a four-day period with three matches, two singles and one doubles, in each series. The United States beat Australia, 2-1, in the final.

As the field grew, the tournament was expanded from four to seven days at a single location. In 1995, it went to the same basic format as Davis Cup play, with four preliminary regional rounds leading up to the semi-finals and finals.

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