SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- With the pressure on, Fed Cup captain Billie Jean King still doesn't regret kicking Jennifer Capriati off the team earlier this year.

"Losing (in Charlotte) was very hard on all of us, but we felt it was the right thing to do with Capriati," King said Friday. "I think it's a short-term loss for a long-term gain."

It was certainly a risk. The United States forfeited Capriati's match in Charlotte and lost the tie. As a result, this weekend the United States has to defeat Israel in a qualifier to keep from dropping out of World Group No. 1 for the first time in Fed Cup history.

FOR THEIR COUNTRY

Nearly every athlete says it's an honor to play for their country, but for the Israeli team it's something more. "The situation in Israel the last six months is already very hard," Hila Rosen said. "For us to represent Israel in such a big occasion, playing the U.S.A. in Fed Cup, I think it's a very big event for us. I hope we can do the best, we can get some smiles in Israel and through the tennis make peace in the world." Teammate Tzipora Obziler agrees. "Especially these days, we can make a little bit of happiness to our country, it's an honor. We are the ones that maybe can really bring it to Israel." Although the team members have not lost any family members to the violence in the Middle East, Rosen said it still affects them all. "As you know, Israel is a very, very small country. I think each of us knows a few people or at least one who got killed … friends of friends, you know, very far family. "The situation in Israel these days makes you feel like Israel is one very big family, that everybody cares about everybody. When such things happen, it's like it happens to you. Thank God we here didn't lose anybody. We hope Israel is not going to lose anybody else."

With Capriati no longer available and the Williams sisters absent -- Venus might have played if it was in Europe and Serena has been playing a lot of matches lately -- that left the team without the top three players in the world.

But King says she's not frustrated by the refusals.

"First of all, the United States of America is totally spoiled in that we have the greatest players in the world playing for America," King said. "I'd rather have people who really are highly motivated that want to be there no matter the outcome of what happens. That's the most important thing. That's what makes America great, that we are able to have choices. A lot of countries, you don't have that."

So now it's up to two players who rarely turn down a chance to play Fed Cup: Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport. As a matter of fact, Davenport asked to be put on the team King said, while former Yugoslavian Seles has never said no to playing for the U.S.

"It's a great honor," Seles said. "So far in my career, I've been always available for every tie. It's really one of the highlights of my career. It's a great honor playing under Billie."

Seles, and the rest of the players, backed King when she was criticized for removing Capriati from the team. Although the players were silent about the extent of the problem then, the implication was that there was more to it than Capriati merely wanting extra practice.

"She kept breaking rules all the time," King said later. "And she was late and would change her mind and would not travel with the team when she should."

Whatever happened in Charlotte, the pressure is on now.

Although Davenport finished 2001 as the No. 1 player, she has been sidelined for nine months with a knee injury and hasn't been on the court except for a couple of World Team Tennis matches.

But it wasn't her knee or Israel's Anna Smashnova, who has broken the top 20 this year, that was the biggest obstacle on the first day of Fed Cup. High heat and humidity had fans falling at 2-1 in the first set. And the bad news is there's no break expected on Sunday. While Davenport defeated Smashnova 6-3, 6-3 to put the United States up 1-0, she lost three pounds.

"You know, I'm still standing," Davenport said on Saturday. I'm actually feeling really good. I was a little nervous before the match about the conditions. But it's great."

Then Seles gave the team a solid 2-0 lead with a 6-4, 6-2 victory against Tzipora Obziler.

Reverse singles will be played on Sunday as well as doubles. The doubles point is almost a sure thing. Lisa Raymond, the No. 1 doubles player in the world, and Meghann Shaughnessy face Hila Rosen and Shahar Peer. It's Peer's first Fed Cup and she seems a little in awe of her opponents.

"It's especially a good experience to play against the U.S.A. because these are the top players in the world," Peer said. "To go watch them, to see how they play, how they act. I hope I will play some more Fed Cup."

If there is an upset, King's status as a legend of the game and her 18-4 record as Fed Cup captain probably won't stop the return of the heavy criticism she received from her handling of Capriati. But King's confidence in her team remains strong.

"Because they are the greatest players in the world, they like pressure," King said. "That's what makes them so great. Emotionally and mentally, they are also the toughest. It's just not about being physically the best."

Cynthia Faulkner is the tennis editor for ESPN.com.