Israel at the 2002 Federation Cup

Israel at the 2002 Federation Cup made its appearance with full enthusiasm in its 33rd Fed Cup. Federation Cup is the most prominent women tennis tournament at the international level launched in the year 1963. Israel started playing in the Federation Cup from the 1970 tournament. It took a walkover in its first tournament itself in the World Group on the clay-outdoor surface hosted by Freiburg against New Zealand. Israel reached the World Group second round five times till the 2002 Fed Cup. Israel was moved down to the Europe/Africa Group I E from the World Group in 1993.

In the 2001 tournament, it was promoted to the World Group Play-off from the Group I D, but it was defeated here by Hungary.

Israel at the 2002 Federation Cup was a contender of the Group I B of the Europe/Africa Zone. In the first round robin, it defeated Romania with a score line of 2-1. It won all the three matches of the second round robin defeating Bosnia/Herzegovina. Israel defeated Netherlands in the third round robin by a 2-1 score line. Moved to the Group I Play-off, it played and won against Estonia with a score line of 2-0. These all triumphs led Israel to World Group Qualifying Round. Here in the first round, it lost against USA by a very low score line of 0-5. This resulted to remain the same group for the next Fed Cup.

In first four rounds performance of Israel at the 2002 Federation Cup was excellent against Romania, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Netherlands, and Estonia. Once it reached the World Group Play-off, the players lost their confidence and could not face the challenge given by USA.