Doubles Take: Fed Cup set to kick off

Doubles in Fed Cup by nature comes with a high degree of pressure:  If the tie is deadlocked at 2-2, the doubles rubber—played as the last match—determines who moves on to the next round.

That being said, the 2018 opening weekend could see some intriguing match-ups.

The U.S., coming off its first championship in more than a decade, welcomes 14-time Grand Slam doubles champs Serena and Venus Williams back to the fold against the Netherlands. It’s unlikely they’ll play doubles against the Dutch team: Rather, it’s expected that 2017 Fed Cup hero CoCo Vandeweghe and Lauren Davis will team up.

The Dutch squad will be led by Demi Schuurs, who’s won two doubles titles already in 2018.

Belarus, last year’s runner-up, faces off against Germany, which features longtime doubles standout Anna-Lena Groenefeld. Belarus only has one player in the top 100 in doubles, Lidziya Marozava, but as their run last year showed, they can’t be discounted—especially when they’re playing at home.

No team has been as dominant in the event this century as the Czech Republic squad. More than likely, they’ll send out Barbora Strycova and Lucie Safarova in doubles, who recently advanced to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.

The Czechs are hosting Switzerland, whose highest-ranking doubles player is Viktorija Golubic. Timea Bacsinszky showed she’s no slouch in doubles as she’ll be entering the tie fresh off her St. Petersburg win.

In the last World Group tie, France’s Kristina Mladenovic—a two-time Grand Slam champion in doubles—could be involved in three rubbers over the weekend. Belgium, France’s opponent, could go a similar route with Elise Mertens its top singles player, who captured the doubles title in Hobart this year with Schuurs.

Follow Van on Twitter: @Van_Sias