The World Group is the highest level of Fed Cup competition in 2012.

World Group may refer to:

The 2012 Fed Cup (also known as the 2012 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas for sponsorship purposes) is the 50th edition of the most important tournament between national teams in women's tennis. The final will take place on 4–5 November.

The draw took place on 17 July 2011 in Kobe, Japan.

The four losing teams in the World Group first round ties, and four winners of the World Group II ties enter the draw for the World Group Play-offs. Four seeded teams, based on the latest Fed Cup ranking, are drawn against four unseeded teams. The United States, Japan, Slovakia and Australia will play in the 2013 Fed Cup World Group while Ukraine, Belarus, Spain and Germany will play in World Group II.

Date: 21–22 April

The World Group II is the second highest level of Fed Cup competition in 2012. Winners will advance to the World Group Play-offs, and loser will play in the World Group II Play-offs.

Date: 4–5 February

The four losing teams from World Group II will play off against qualifiers from Zonal Group I. Two teams qualified from Europe/Africa Zone, one team from the Asia/Oceania Zone, and one team from the Americas Zone.

Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ( Светла́на Алекса́ндровна Кузнецо́ва (help·info)); born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of May 7, 2012 ranked No. 28 in the WTA singles and No. 31 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in seven doubles finals, winning twice. She has qualified five times for the round-robin stage of the WTA Tour Championships but has never qualified for the semifinals.

Her first Grand Slam title came at the 2004 US Open, making her the third Russian woman to win a Grand Slam title, after Anastasia Myskina and Maria Sharapova who won at the 2004 French Open and 2004 Wimbledon tournaments respectively. Kuznetzova's second Grand Slam title was the 2009 French Open, defeating Serena Williams in the quarterfinal, Samantha Stosur in the semifinal, and compatriot Dinara Safina in the final in straight sets. At the 2006 French Open and the 2007 US Open singles tournament she was the runner-up, both times to Belgian player Justine Henin. As a result, Kuznetsova obtained her new WTA ranking of No. 2, her best to that date. Kuznetsova has won a total of 13 WTA and 1 ITF singles titles and 15 WTA doubles titles to date and US$16,372,146 in prize money, making her the second top Russian earner on court and number 11 of all female tennis players to date and No. 5 of active players, after only Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters, and Maria Sharapova respectively.

Ana Ivanovic (Serbian Cyrillic: Ана Ивановић, Ana Ivanović; Serbian pronunciation: [âna iʋǎːnoʋitɕ] ( listen)) (born November 6, 1987, in Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a former world no. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of May 28, 2012, she is ranked 14th on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open. Competing as a professional since 2003, she has won 11 WTA Tour singles titles. When on form, Ivanovic is known for her aggressive style of play.

Ivanovic's mother Dragana (Драгана), a lawyer, supports her daughter during most of her matches. Her father Miroslav (Мирослав), a self-employed businessman, attends as many events as he possibly can. Ana has a younger brother, Miloš (Милош), with whom she loves to play basketball.

Aside from her tennis career, Ivanovic also studies finance at a university in Belgrade and Spanish in her spare time. Her inspiration to begin playing was Monica Seles, who at that time played for Yugoslavia.