The second edition of the United Cup is all set to kick off on 29 December 2023 in Australia. It is a mixed-gender team tennis tournament that will be played on hard courts. The matches will be played in Perth and Sydney from 29 December 2023-7 January 2024. It is a tournament organized by both ATP and WTA. The players will be awarded their respective ATP and WTA points.
This tournament is a replacement to the ATP Cup which allowed only male players to participate. This tournament will act as a warm-up tournament to the Australian Open which will take place later that month. A total of 18 nations will play in the tournament. They have been divided into six groups of three and the matches will be played in Perth and Sydney only. The final schedule of the tournament is yet to be released.
The groups are mentioned below:
Perth
Group A– Poland, Spain, WTA TBC
Group C– United States, Great Britain, Australia
Group E– Czech Republic, China, Serbia
Sydney
Group B– Greece, Canada, ATP TBC
Group D– France, Italy, Germany
Group F– Croatia, Netherlands, Norway
16 teams have qualified till now and two teams are yet to be decided.
The teams will play 5 matches against their opponent in every round, i.e. two men’s singles, two women’s singles, and one mixed doubles match, and the first to win three matches will be the winner.
Some of the biggest names in tennis will play in the tournament. Novak Djokovic, who will lead the Serbian team and the current world No. 1 has group matches against the Czech Republic and China. The Czech Republic will be led by the world no. 10 in women’s singles M. Vondrousova.
The most interesting and the toughest group has to be Group C which comprises the USA, Great Britain, and Australia. Taylor Fritz and Jessica Pegula will lead the team from the USA. The USA are the defending champions of the United Cup, but this draw seems to make their road very difficult.
Alex De Minaur or the ‘Demon’, who will lead the Australian team will be up against his girlfriend Katie Boulter who will lead the team from Great Britain. They might face each other if they play the mixed doubles match.
The team from Greece will be led by the sensational Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari, but more interestingly his younger brother Petros Tsitsipas will also be in the same team for the mixed doubles matches. They will play Canada led by Felix-Auger Aliassime who will give a tough fight in the men’s singles.
Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurcakz will lead their team from Poland. They will be up against Spain and one other team which is yet to be decided.
Casper Ruud who is currently ranked No. 8 is another name to watch out for. He will lead the Norwegian team against Croatia and the Netherlands.
With Angelique Kerber making a comeback and Alexander Zverev from Germany will make a strong German team to play against France and Italy.
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