Everything you need to know about the United Cup

We’re just two weeks away from the start of the 2024 Australian Open, but some of the best tennis players in the world have already made their way to these shores.

The world’s top-ranked man and woman – Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek – as well as top-ranked Australian Alex de Minaur and the returning Ajla Tomljanovic will be in action from Friday in the 2024 United Cup in Sydney and Perth.

Ajla Tomljanovic, Alex de Minaur, Iga Swiatek and Novak Djokovic will all be competing in the United Cup.Credit: Graphic: Marija Ercegovac

What is the United Cup?

The United Cup is a mixed teams event similar to the Davis Cup or Billie Jean King Cup. Eighteen countries have been split into six groups of three, where they will compete in a round-robin format.

Each group stage round will include a men’s singles, women’s singles and mixed doubles match. The group stage matches will be played at Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney, and the Perth matches will be at RAC Arena.

The first group stage match kicks off at 1pm (all times AEDT) on Friday, December 29, when Spain take on Brazil in Perth, followed by team Australia against Great Britain at 8pm in Perth. The host nation then face the USA from 8pm on New Year’s Day.

The 2023-24 United Cup draw.Credit: United Cup

The Sydney side of the draw will get under way at 10.30am on Saturday, December 30 starting with the Netherlands playing Norway.

The six countries that top their group will progress to the quarter-finals which begin on January 3 in Perth. Sydney’s quarter-finals will be played across two days, January 4 and 5, to give the winning Perth teams time to travel to Sydney for the semi-finals which will be played on January 6, followed by the final to be played at 5.30pm on Sunday, January 7.

Who is competing?

Djokovic and Swiatek headline the competitors representing their country at the United Cup this year, but there are a bunch of other top players and grand slam champions taking part in the competition.

Team Australia consists of Ajla Tomljanovic, Storm Hunter, Ellen Perez, Alex de Minaur, John Millman and Matthew Ebden.

Ajla Tomljanovic is returning to Australia for the United Cup and Australian Open.Credit: Getty

Tomljanovic is playing in Australia for the first time since returning from an injury which sidelined her for most of 2023, while it’s one of the last times John Millman will represent his country after the 34-year-old announced he would be retiring following the 2024 Australian Open.

Other big guns include three-time grand slam champion Angelique Kerber, who is starting her comeback in Australia after having a baby and represents Germany alongside men’s world No.7 Alexander Zverev.

Team Greece have another impressive line-up, with Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari playing in Sydney, while Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz are among the competitors for team USA.

Team USA are the reigning United Cup champions, defeating Italy 4-0 last year in the first instalment of the competition. This year, teams will be competing for a share of the $10 million prize pool and up to 500 ranking points.

How to watch

Group stage general admission tickets start at $40 for both Sydney and Perth, while finals tickets start at $90.

If you’d rather watch all the action on TV, you can tune in on 9Now for free-to-air TV or Stan Sport if you have a subscription.

We’ll be live blogging all of team Australia’s matches, and bringing you all the other news in between. You can find all that content and more leading up to the Australian Open, here.

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