United Cup

United Cup
United Cup
2024 United Cup
Tournament information
Founded	December 2022
Editions	2
Location	Brisbane, Perth, Sydney; Australia
Surface	Hard / outdoors
Draw	18 teams
Prize money	US$10,000,000 (2024)
Current champion	Germany
Website	UnitedCup.com

The United Cup is an international hard court tennis competition featuring mixed-gender teams from 18 countries. The first event was held in December 2022 through January 2023.^[1] The event is played across multiple Australian cities over 11 days in the leadup to the Australian Open. It is also the first mixed-gender team event to offer both ATP rankings and WTA rankings points to its players, with a maximum 500 points for the winners.^[2]

History

On 7 August 2022, Tennis Australia announced that the ATP Cup, which was an international outdoor hard court men's team competition played in the Australian summer, would be shut down and replaced by a mixed-gender event from 2023.^[3]^[4] Thus, the first edition of the United Cup directly replaced the ATP Cup (2020–2022) on the ATP Tour calendar.

Tournament

Format

The first week of the international team competition features a group phase, with six groups of three countries, which play each other in a round robin format. One group in each city plays all its ties in the morning sessions while the other plays in the evening sessions.

In the 2023 edition, the group winners in each city play off in a city final for one of three semifinal spots. This city final is played in one day across a morning and an evening session. Of the three losing teams, one with the best record up to that point becomes the fourth semifinalist. For the 2024 edition, the six group winners along with the two best runners-up of each host city advanced to the quarterfinals.

There is a travel day allocated before the semifinals and final take place in Sydney.

In the 2023 edition, the final took place on one day. In case the tie's winner is decided after the singles matches, the mixed doubles match would not be played.

In the 2023 edition, each tie consisted of five matches, with two men's singles matches, two women's singles matches, and a mixed doubles match. For the 2024 edition, each tie consists of three matches (men's singles, women's singles and mixed doubles).

In the 2023 edition, each tie was split into two sessions played in different days, with two matches in the first day and three matches in the second day- In the 2024 edition, the three matches are held in the same day.

Qualification

18 countries qualify as follows:

six countries based on the ATP ranking of their No. 1 ranked singles player
six countries based on the WTA ranking of their No. 1 ranked singles player
the final six countries based on the combined ranking of their number one ranked ATP and WTA players.

In exchange for being the host nation, Australia is guaranteed one of the spots reserved for teams with the best combined ranking if it fails to qualify on its own.^[1]

In the 2023 edition, each player had three singles specialists and a doubles specialist for each gender. In the 2024 edition, each player has two singles specialists and a doubles specialist for each gender.

Venues

Name	Opened	Capacity	Location	Events	Map
Pat Rafter Arena	2009	5,500	Brisbane	2023	Brisbane Sydney Perth
RAC Arena	2012	15,500	Perth	2023–present
Ken Rosewall Arena	1999	10,500	Sydney	2023–present

Finals

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
2023	United States	Italy	4–0
2024	Germany	Poland	2–1

Results by nation

Country	2023		2024		Overall
Country	Rnd	W–L	Rnd	W–L	App	W–L
Argentina	RR	0–2	–	–	1	0–2
Australia	RR	1–1	SF	2–2	2	3–3
Belgium	RR	0–2	–	–	1	0–2
Brazil	RR	1–1	RR	0–2	2	1–3
Bulgaria	RR	1–1	–	–	1	1–1
Canada	–	–	RR	1–1	1	1–1
Chile	–	–	RR	1–1	1	1–1
China	–	–	QF	1–2	1	1–2
Croatia	HF	2–1	RR	1–1	2	3–2
Czech Republic	RR	1–1	RR	0–2	2	1–3
France	RR	1–1	SF	3–1	2	4–2
Germany	RR	0–2	W	4–1	2	4–3
Great Britain	HF	2–1	RR	1–1	2	3–2
Greece	SF	3–1	QF	1–2	2	4–3
Italy	F	3–2	RR	0–2	2	3–4
Kazakhstan	RR	0–2	–	–	1	0–2
Netherlands	–	–	RR	1–1	1	1–1
Norway	RR	0–2	QF	1–2	2	1–4
Poland	SF	3–1	F	4–1	2	7–2
Serbia	–	–	QF	2–1	1	2–1
Spain	RR	0–2	RR	1–1	2	1–3
Switzerland	RR	1–1	–	–	1	1–1
United States	W	5–0	RR	1–1	2	6–1

RR = Round-robin, HF = Host city final, QF = Quarterfinal, SF = Semifinal, F = Final, W = Winner

References

^ ^a ^b "United Cup Explained". United Cup. Tennis Australia Limited. Archived from the original on February 10, 2024. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
^ "Mixed-team United Cup to open 2023 season". www.wtatennis.com. October 27, 2022. Archived from the original on February 10, 2024. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
^ "ATP Cup axed as Hopman Cup-like event to return to Perth". The West Australian. September 7, 2022. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
^ "New $15m mixed-sex event in Australia to kick off 2023 season". Reuters. October 27, 2022. Retrieved October 28, 2022.