TENNIS TUESDAY: U.S. Win 2017 Fed Cup, Nadal Ends Season, ATP YEC Under Way

U.S.A. WIN 2017 FED CUP, ENDING 17-YEAR DROUGHT BY WINNING CLIFFHANGER OVER BELARUS
The 2017 Federation Cup final was played last weekend and the United States won the tie 3-2 to win their first Fed Cup since 2000. The match was surprisingly close despite the fact that the United States had 2 Top 15 players in 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens and CoCo Vandeweghe while Belarus had one player in the Top 100. Stephens' winless streak since winning her major title continues and she lost both matches she played last weekend. The true star of the team was Vandeweghe who won both of her singles match and then paired with Shelby Rogers to win the final tie, which was the doubles match.

ATP YEAR-END CHAMPIONSHIP PROCEEDS WITH WINS BY FEDERER, ZVEREV, SOCK, DIMITROV AND GOFFIN.
The year-end ATP tour championship has begun and there have been some surprises. Roger Federer has qualified for the semifinal round by defeating Jack Sock and Sascha Zverev. Other players who have won matches in the round-robin stage are Sock, Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov and David Goffin. On Thursday, Sock and Zverev will face off for the remaining semifinal spot. In the other half of the draw, Dimitrov and Goffin will face off for another semifinal berth.

NADAL ENDS SEASON AFTER LOSS TO GOFFIN AT YEC
Rafael Nadal withdrew from the ATP Finals after losing a 3-set match to David Goffin, ending his 2017 season. He has never done well at the year-end championships despite qualifying 13 times, he has withdrawn 5 different times and lost in the final twice. He ends 2017 as the #1 player, with a record of 67W-10L.