ATP-WTA announces 1st ever United Cup, to feature top tennis stars
Nov 10, 2022
London [UK], November 10 : The first United Cup, an annual mixed-team competition, will be played in Brisbane, Perth, and Sydney from Thursday, December 29, to Sunday, January 8, 2023.
The top 16 nations' entries have been revealed, with Team Greece, comprised of world No 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas and world No 6 Maria Sakkari, being seeded first as per ATP tour.com.
Number two-seeded Poland will be led by world No 1 Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz, while the third-seeded United States boasts a talented roster that includes the No 3 player in the world. Jessica Pegula, world No 9 Taylor Fritz, No 11 Madison Keys, and No 19 Frances Tiafoe, a charismatic performer.
While rising tennis powerhouse Italy will feature world No 16 Matteo Berrettini and Martina Trevisan, Spain will be represented by the famous Rafael Nadal and world No 13 Paula Badosa.
The top six seeds are completed by Caroline Garcia, the world No 4 and winner of the WTA Finals, and Arthur Rinderknech.
The Australian team will be represented by Nick Kyrgios, Ajla Tomljanovic, and Alex de Minaur wearing green and gold. Along with Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, other notable entrants include Casper Ruud of Norway, the world's No. 4 player, Alexander Zverev of Germany, Belinda Bencic and Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland, and Petra Kvitova of Germany.
The competition is open to the top six WTA ranking-qualified countries, top five ATP ranking-qualified countries, and the top five combined entry countries.
On Monday, November 21, depending on the rankings released on this date, the final two nations (one ATP and one combined entry) will be invited to the competition.
The United Cup, an ATP-WTA competition hosted in association with Tennis Australia, offers up to USD 15 million in prize money as well as 500 ATP and 500 WTA ranking points.
From December 29 to January 4, two groups of three nations will compete in a round-robin format in Brisbane, Perth, and Sydney, respectively. Each tie consists of one mixed doubles match, two men's singles matches, and two women's singles matches.
The winners of each group will compete against one another, with the city champions moving on to the United Cup Final Four, which will be held in Sydney from January 6-8. The quartet will be completed by the second-place team from the group stages.
