U.S. Fed Cup team having a blast ahead of France semifinal

The keys to success, particularly in team events, is staying loose, bonding and putting your heart and soul into each match for your teammates. The U.S. Fed Cup team has their winning formula down, as they get set to face France in the semifinals this weekend.

The Americans are the defending champions, and though they're the traveling team with the tie played in Aux-en-Provence (near Marseille) on red clay, they will be the favorites. Led by captain Kathy Rinaldi, Madison Keys, CoCo Vandeweghe, Sloane Stephens and Bethanie Mattek-Sands are excited for the upcoming tie.

"Any time we get the opportunity to play on a team together with a group of friends, it's always an amazing opportunity," Keys said in a press conference on Thursday. "We always have the most fun weeks throughout the year. We're always thinking back to these awesome weeks together, and we're always laughing."

Mattek-Sands, a former No. 1 in doubles, is early in her comeback from a serious knee injury at Wimbledon.

"I made a choice to control what I could, and that was my attitude," Mattek-Sands said. "What I was doing daily to rehab, enjoy my life, find other things that I enjoyed, doing TV.

"It feels nice to be back on court."

She's getting by with a little help from her friends:

Vandeweghe was the Fed Cup hero last year, not dropping a match all season long as she led the Americans to the cup.

Clay may not be her favorite surface, but patriotism is one of her greatest motivations.

Keys is coming into the tie just after reaching the semifinals of Charleston.

The team practices have been filled with a lot of laughs:

And of course, Stephens is riding a high as the newly crowned Miami Open champion.

The U.S. will tackle a French team that consists of just three players, Kristina Mladenovic, Pauline Parmentier and Amanda Hesse. They're led by captain Yannick Noah, who has already faced Rinaldi in a little friendly competition.

"I think my expectations are the same every time we have a tie, and that's for us to be united and have each other's backs and support one another," Rinaldi said. "We're here to win. We're here to compete."