1967 Australian Championships doubles finalist[40] Évelyne Terras joined the team in 1966,[41] but managed to only win two games in singles against Erzsébet Széll in France's 2–1 defeat of Hungary.

[64] Rosy Darmon returned to the team, and with her, France was able to easily beat Bulgaria[65] and defeat Hungary[66] despite losing a singles rubber to six-time Hungarian women's tennis champion[67] Éva Szabó.

[64] Although they lost in their next round to Czechoslovakia,[72] whose team was composed of future Grand Slam finalist[69] Renáta Tomanová and the renowned[73] Martina Navratilova, their performance would end up being one of the best for years.

Kermina left the captaincy for a second time, to be replaced by Philippe Duxin,[18] and although the same team from 1975 was competing, they suffered their second first round defeat, only winning an average of four games per rubber at the hands of British players Barker and Wade.

They initially suffered to a terrible draw with the Czechoslovaks in the first round, but gained a bye after the Eastern European team withdrew amidst the tense political situation of the time.

[1][75] They faced little resistance from Rhodesia or Brazil to pass through to the consolation final,[1] but they eventually fell to Romanian multiple Grand Slam finalists[76][77] Florența Mihai and Virginia Ruzici.

[81][82] The team made an excellent start to the tournament, defeating Luxembourg and Greece in the first two ties whilst only dropping two and six games respectively,[81][82] but they were beaten in the quarterfinals by the Americans.

The team won over Sweden and Argentina in the first two rounds, mainly due to the singles performances of Benedetti and Dürr,[83][84] but were beaten in the quarterfinals by the United States.

[1] They played well in the consolation rounds, managing to easily pass through Denmark[89] and Belgium, who were accompanied by Australian Open quarterfinalist[90] Michele Gurdal,[91] but the streak did not last as they only narrowly defeated South Korea in the semifinals and were beaten soundly by Canada in the final.

[1][100] However, this change-up once again did not translate into success, as they suffered their third first round defeat in four years, going down to Argentina with Vanier losing in singles and doubles alongside Tanvier.

Though the team's poor form worsened further when they were beaten in their first tie by South Korea; Suire losing in three sets to Seol Min-kyung and Vanier in two to Shin Soon-ho.

With this team, they made a first round win over Sweden; Tanvier securing the tie by defeating consistent Top 20 player Catarina Lindqvist[116] in three sets.

[118] This level of play continued to the next year, as Demongeot and Tauziat worked their way up the rankings and even managed to win a doubles tournament together in Paris,[119][120] they went past Austria,[121] who was assisted by the upcoming Judith Wiesner, but they were beaten soundly in the second round by the defending champion Americans, the celebrated Chris Evert and Pam Shriver.

[119][120] However, they succumbed to an unfortunate first round draw against Spain, who consisted of upcoming teenager Conchita Martínez and recent 1989 French Open champion Arantxa Sánchez Vicario.

[127][128] This new team began spectacularly well, beating Chinese Taipei while only dropping on average four games a match[129] and managing an easy revenge of New Zealand.

[132] However, this did not translate into success for the team in 1991; they suffered a massive upset defeat at the hands of Poland, who had not won a Federation Cup World Group match since 1974, mainly due to No.

[137] The team's semifinal drought continued though when they were beaten by the United States in the quarterfinals in spite of Tauziat winning over Lori McNeil, mainly due to the singles and doubles prowess of Gigi Fernández.

[140] Nevertheless, France managed to reach their third quarterfinal in four years, the first occasion they had achieved such success since 1979, with wins over Canada and Sweden due to the singles and doubles prowess of Halard and Tauziat.

[145] Paradis-Magnon left tennis at the end of the year,[146] but Pierce, who reached the final of the 1994 French Open, returned for 1994,[147] and Alexandra Fusai made her Cup debut.

[156] In 1996, the newly married Julie Halard-Decugis was having the best season start of her career, winning her fifth WTA tournament in Hobart and following up with her first Tier II victory in Paris.

[18] In addition, Fusai returned to the team with Pierce, who reach the final of the Australian Open again,[132] and Tauziat, while seventeen-year-old Top 40 player[161] Anne-Gaëlle Sidot made her debut.

[162] The rubbers began as expected, with Pierce getting France off to a good start to beat Naoko Sawamatsu and Tauziat coming from having a match point against her to defeat Sugiyama in three sets.

[177] In addition, Tauziat and Alexandra Fusai were on good form in doubles, reaching the final of the prestigious Chase Championships and ending the previous year as the World No.

[182] Despite the formidable opposition, captain Yannick Noah refused to allow Testud or Pierce, who had recently fallen out of the Top 10, to join the team due to an ankle injury and a poor attitude respectively.

10 and Wimbledon finalist Tauziat, with Julie Halard-Decugis, who was coming back from injury, and former junior world champion Amélie Mauresmo joining Fusai to make up the team.

[190] This good result allowed her to become one of four Frenchwomen to reach the Top 15 (alongside Pierce, Tauziat and Testud),[2] and owed to her being included in the team's first tie against Russia.

[191] The fact that France had remained in the World Group for so long meant that for the 2000 Fed Cup, they once again automatically qualified for the highest level of competition.

[194] They then won over Australia, with Halard-Decugis and Tauziat winning the doubles rubber after Testud suffered a close loss to 1998 Junior champion[195] Jelena Dokic.

[196] From this point they were expected to win the pool, as the remaining team, Belgium, was without its top players Van Roost and Appelmans and thus led by sixteen-year-old Kim Clijsters.

[214] This paid against the Spanish, weakened by the absence of Conchita Martínez and the recent retirement of Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, as they dominated in the singles ties to advance to the semifinals with Russia.