Canada's Fed Cup team gets another home tie, will host Belarus on Feb. 6-7, 2016

PARIS – The options were the U.S., Slovakia, Spain and Belarus, and any of the Canadian Fed Cup team's potential opponents could have been a road tie.

So when the Fed Cup draw was made Wednesday at the French Open, the Canadians made out fairly well.

They will play Belarus, at home, on Feb. 6-7, 2016 in their first-round World Group II tie as they begin their campaign to get back into the top group of eight women's tennis nations, World Group I.

It could have been the Americans, who have several top players – including Venus Williams and Madison Keys – still on the hook with Fed Cup obligations if they want to be eligible for next year's Olympic Games in Sydney.

Belarus has one big name – Victoria Azarenka – who played Fed Cup this season for the first time since 2011 but still hasn't qualified for Rio. So she would be expected to play even with an itinerary that would go from Australia, all the way to Canada, then back to the European indoor circuit to start the 2016 season.

Beyond Azarenka, the best players from that nation are veteran Olga Govortsova (ranked No. 124) and 21-year-old Aliaksandra Sasnovich, ranked No. 127.

In other words, it's a winnable tie if an in-form Genie Bouchard were to participate.

Bouchard, though, has already fulfilled her Fed Cup commitments in terms of Olympic qualification.