Come January and the United Cup can’t be far behind. For the fourth consecutive season, the tennis calendar begins with the United Cup, a mixed-teams event featuring top ATP and WTA stars in Australia.
This year the event again features 18 countries across six groups in Sydney and Perth, according to an ATP report. The report looks at five things to watch at the United Cup.
United States defending champion
In three editions of the United Cup, the United States has emerged victorious twice. Taylor Fritz has been a consistent presence for his country at the mixed-teams event, and he returns with Coco Gauff to defend their trophy. Twelve months ago, the Americans swept Poland in the final and they will try to hold off the 17 other countries in the competition.
Individually, Fritz has tallied 9-3 singles record at the United Cup since 2023, including victories against Alexander Zverev, Hubert Hurkacz and Matteo Berrettini, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. He enters the season as the No. 6 player in the PIF ATP Rankings.
Auger-Aliassime among Top-10 talent
There are eight ATP singles players who are in or have been in the world’s Top 10 competing in the United Cup. The current Top-10 stars are Germany’s Zverev, Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, the United States’ Fritz and Australia’s Alex de Minaur.
World No. 5 Auger-Aliassime in particular arrives at the United Cup with momentum. The Canadian is fresh off the best season of his career, qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals for the second time. Auger-Aliassime made a Masters 1000 final in Paris and won three ATP Tour titles in 2025 in addition to his run to the US Open semi-finals. The 25-year-old and 19-year-old Victoria Mboko headline their country’s lineup in Sydney, where they visited koalas and kangaroos at the zoo this week.
Former World No. 2 Casper Ruud (Norway), former World No.3 Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece) and Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland), and Poland’s Hurkacz will also be in action. De Minaur will take on Ruud in Group D and Zverev will face Hurkacz in Group F, with both matches in Sydney at the Ken Rosewall Arena.
De Minaur flies Australian flag
De Minaur loves playing at home, especially in his native Sydney, where he won his first ATP Tour title in 2019 as a 19-year-old. The home favourite leads the way for Australia on a team ATP No. 1 Club member Lleyton Hewitt captains. Maya Joint, the country’s top WTA player, competes for the first time. But it will be De Minaur, who spearheads the charge at an event where he has beaten greats Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Zverev and Fritz.
Mensik the man to watch out for
The 2025 season featured the breakout of Jakub Mensik to the big stage. The Czech righty began the season just inside the Top 50 and finished it as a Top-20 star with a Masters 1000 title to his name. The Miami champion established himself as a fearless contender no matter the stage and will bring his game to the tournament for the first time. The 20-year-old will need to be sharp from the first ball in Sydney, where he will play De Minaur and Ruud in Group D.
Big-serving Pole Hurkacz returns
Big-serving Pole Hurkacz has helped Poland reach the United Cup final twice and will try to do so again in 2026. But this also marks the 28-year-old’s first tournament since June in ‘s-Hertogenbosch due to a knee injury. The former World No. 6 will seek revenge against Zverev, who beat him in the 2024 United Cup final. He will also play Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor, against whom he owns a 3-2 Lexus ATP Head2Head advantage.
