current captain of the French Fed Cup team, having taken over the position from former ATP Top 20 player Nicolas Escudé in 2012. Current team History 1963–1972: early consistency France participated in the inaugural Federation Cup competition in Queen's Club, London in 1963, when it was instituted as a way of celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the ITF. Janine Lieffrig was the team's first captain and she participated also as a player alongside Françoise Dürr. Together, the two were considered the best upcoming women's tennis players in Europe at the time. They were drawn against West Germany for their first ever tie. Dürr was defeated by 1961 Wimbledon mixed doubles finalist Edda Buding in straight sets, but Lieffrig managed to defeat Margot Dittmeyer in singles and Buding and Renate Ostermann in doubles alongside Dürr. This led to France advancing to the quarterfinals, where they were drawn against Lieffrig's future senior's tennis nation South Africa. The team was defeated cleanly by Margaret Hunt and 1959 Australian Championships finalist Renée Schuurman, failing to win a rubber. Success for the team grew in the next two years. In 1964, Wimbledon player Jacqueline Rees-Lewis joined the team as a singles player, and together with Dürr and Lieffrig managed to easily defeat Switzerland, and then beat Netherlands and the Germans once again despite losses to future Wimbledon finalist Betty Stöve and future German Junior champion Heide Orth. However, the French were eventually stopped by Australia, the eventual winners, who were accompanied by multiple Grand Slam champions Margaret Smith and Lesley Turner. The following year, they suffered very similar fortunes. Dürr and Lieffrig easily defeated the Japanese, and won over Brazil despite the presence of World No. 1 Maria Bueno. They then lost once again to the Australians who were once again accompanied by Smith and Turner. Success dropped slightly for the team in the next years, however. 1967 Australian Championships doubles finalist Évelyne Terras joined the team in 1966, but managed to only win two games in singles against Erzsébet Széll in France's 2–1 defeat of Hungary. Dürr and Lieffrig were then beaten in the next round by the eventual champions United States. Following this, Monique Bensusan-Hamelin replaced Lieffrig as captain, and Monique Salfati joined the team. However, they suffered their third straight defeat against the Australians in the quarterfinals after passing through due to the Poles withdrawing. They then suffered similar fortunes in 1968,