The United Cup, a brand-new mixed teams competition, will be where Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek will begin their 2023 campaigns, but many top-10 athletes will miss the event.
At the United Cup in Australia, a brand-new mixed teams competition, Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek will begin their 2023 campaigns, but many top-10 athletes will miss it. The men’s ATP Cup has been replaced by the United Cup, which will be played in Brisbane, Perth, and Sydney as a major lead-up to the Australian Open Grand Slam and offer a total prize pool of $15 million and ranking points. With 500 WTA and 500 ATP ranking points up for grabs, 18 nations will battle over the course of 11 days starting on December 29. Each team will consist of four men and four women.
The excellent calibre and class of individuals who have committed to the event confirm that the playing group is really enthusiastic about the United Cup, according to Stephen Farrow, the event’s director, who said as much on Thursday.
We are thrilled with the diversity and depth of the teams, and we anticipate seeing lots of good tennis and many interesting matches.
Along with the 13th-ranked Paula Badosa, Spain’s team will be led by world number two and 22-time Grand Slam victor Rafael Nadal, the defending Australian Open champion. Carlos Alcaraz, the top-ranked athlete in the world, will not compete.
Swiatek, who now holds the top ranking, will lead Poland alongside Hubert Hurkacz, while Jessica Pegula, who is currently ranked third in the world, will play for the United States alongside Madison Keys, Taylor Fritz, and Frances Tiafoe.
The star player for France is the resurgent Caroline Garcia, who just defeated Aryna Sabalenka to win the WTA Finals, which conclude the season.
The only other woman in the top 10 who is competing is Maria Sakkari, who is rated sixth. She is a member of the potent Greek team that is led by Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is ranked third in the world.
Sabalenka, Ons Jabeur, and Coco Gauff, three top-10 players, have chosen to start their seasons at other tournaments, most likely the Adelaide International, a concurrent ATP-WTA event.
Other notable participants in the United Cup include Casper Ruud, the fourth-ranked player in the world, a showman from Australia named Nick Kyrgios, and Alexander Zverev, who will make his court comeback in December after suffering a major ankle injury.
From December 29 to January 4, Brisbane, Perth, and Sydney will each play host to two groups of three nations in a round-robin format. Each tie will have two men’s and two women’s singles matches and one mixed doubles match.
The top two teams from each city’s group stage will compete for one of three semi-final slots in Sydney, together with the team that finished second best overall.
