Nick Kyrgios is locked in to lead the Australian charge at the inaugural $23m United Cup set to be played in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney this summer.
A star-studded field has been named for the inaugural teams event, with entries from 16 countries including former world No.1 Rafa Nadal and women’s world No.1 Iga Swiatek.
Kyrgios will lead an Australian team featuring Ajla Tomljanovic and Alex de Minaur to go up against a host of the world’s best, including men’s world No.3 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The USA will be represented by world No.3 Jessica Pegula, ninth-ranked Taylor Fritz, world No.11 Madison Keys and the charismatic showman, world No.19 Frances Tiafoe.
The legendary Nadal will team up with world No.13 Paula Badosa to fly the flag for Spain, with other notable players including Norway’s world No.4 Casper Ruud, Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic and Stan Wawrinka, along with Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic.
The top six WTA ranking-qualified countries, top five ATP ranking-qualified countries and the top five combined entry countries have been admitted to the competition.
The final two remaining countries (one ATP and one combined entry) will be admitted to the competition on Monday, November 21, based on the rankings published on this date.
Brisbane, Perth and Sydney will each host two groups of three countries competing in a round-robin format from December 29 to January 4. Each tie comprises two men’s and two women’s singles matches and one mixed doubles match.
The winners of each group will play off, with the city winners advancing to the United Cup Final Four in Sydney to be played from January 6-8. The next best performing team from the group stages will complete the quartet.
