Who plays in the United Cup? Swiatek, Zverev, Gauff and Draper lead their countries to glory

The United Cup will hold its third edition from December 27 to January 5 in Perth and Sydney, kicking off the 2025 season. The tournament will feature 18 countries represented by mixed teams, with major ATP and WTA stars, including Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Alexander Zverev, Jack Draper, and Zheng Qinwen.

This will be a great opportunity for players to build momentum and earn some points before the Australian Open, with a maximum of 500 points available. A total of seven of the top-10 women and six of the top-12 men will compete for glory for their countries.

The qualification system considered the five highest-ranked male players and the five highest-ranked female players. Additionally, eight other teams joined based on the combined rankings of their top two singles players. The tournament will be played in six groups of three countries each. These will be distributed across two venues: the RAC Arena in Perth and the Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney.

Each tie will be decided similarly to the Billie Jean King Cup and the Davis Cup, with two singles matches (ATP No. 1 and WTA No. 1 players), and if necessary, a decisive mixed doubles match. The winners of each group will qualify, along with the best second-place finisher in each city.

The United States will present its two best players of the moment: Taylor Fritz and Coco Gauff, the only team with two players inside the top-5. Other teams with high-ranking entries include Poland with Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz, and Greece with Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari.

Other interesting pairs to watch will be Canadians Felix Auger-Aliassime and Leylah Fernandez, Italians Jasmine Paolini and Flavio Cobolli, Britons Jack Draper and Katie Boulter, and the Chinese Zheng Qinwen and Zhizhen Zhang.

In the 2024 edition, the champions were Germany, with Alexander Zverev and former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber, who retired mid-year. This time, 'Sascha' returns to the tournament as the highest-ranked male player, but he will have a new teammate as the No. 1 WTA, since Laura Siegemund (who was an alternate for the team this year) will be the female leader of the team.