Bermuda will be showcasing arguably its strongest women's tennis squad in this year's Federation Cup, writes Gayle Alleyne.

Team captain and coach Kelly Holland says the four players slated to represent Bermuda in the Americas Qualifying Group Two tournament are seasoned campaigners who should now be familiar with the standard of competition required.

However, a change in the format could prove a bit troublesome.

"I think we have our strongest team this year. The girls have all been playing overseas for a couple years and they have also played in this tournament a few years now so they are used to the standard.

"Also, they are all playing better this year but the way the format is this year makes it tougher and we will be up against some strong countries, especially from South America," she said.

Bermuda is among 12 nations in the tournament which will feature two groups of six competing in a round-robin style.

"Usually when there are more countries, they have several round robins and then you play for placements at the end but this time we're just going to be in two round robins which will make it tougher as only the top team in either group will be promoted to the Americas Qualifying Group One," explained Holland.

Bermuda's contingent, in order of current seedings, is Zara DeSilva (18 years old), Danielle Paynter (21), Sasha Fisher (15) and Tara Lambert (21).

All four members of the quartet are studying overseas; Fisher in England, Paynter in Canada and the other two in the United States.

Holland and Paynter, who is here now, will depart the Island on Sunday and meet the remainder of the team in Toronto, Canada.

They will then fly to Havana, Cuba, where the tournament is being held next week.

Apart from possible promotion, the team's goal will be to improve on their best-ever, seventh-place finish last year.

However, they will only know exactly how hard this undertaking will be next Monday when the draw is done to decide who they face in their round-robin group.