Sam Stosur, Lleyton Hewitt to co-captain Australia in new United Cup tennis event

Sam Stosur and Lleyton Hewitt will co-captain Australia in a new teams event featuring our top men’s and women’s players. Nick Kyrgios, over to you.

Nick Kyrgios in action with Thanasi Kokkinakis. Picture: Michael Klein

Sam Stosur is likely to use her influence as Australian co-captain at the inaugural United Cup to tee up the “incredible experience” of playing mixed doubles with Nick Kyrgios.

Stosur will be named on Thursday as co-captain of team Australia for the opening United Cup event alongside Lleyton Hewitt in the ATP and WTA co-sanctioned event the US Open winner said was a “huge step forward for our sport”.

The mixed team event will be played in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney from December 29-January 8, with the Aussies set to take on a Spanish team featuring Rafael Nadal and the Tim Henman captained Great Britain in Sydney in Pool D.

Stosur will sit courtside with Hewitt overseeing a team including Kyrgios, Alex de Minaur, Ajla Tomljanovic, Maddison Inglis, Zoe Hives, Jason Kubler and John Peers.

As a playing captain, Stosur will be involved in making the decision on the mixed doubles team to take the court, and said playing alongside “any one of the guys would be awesome”.

But when pushed, she admitted partnering with Australian Open doubles champ and Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios would be a particular treat.

“I mean, playing with Nick would be an incredible experience,” Stosur said.

“I think it’d be entertaining being on the court with him and you know, sometimes you may not have to do too much, so that would be pretty cool to experience.

“I’ve always loved watching Alex play – I think the way he fights and competes and goes about everything is just phenomenal.

Sam Stosur expects Nick Kyrgios to put his hand up to play for Australia. Picture: Michael Klein

“Kubes (Jason Kubler), I played with last year in mixed at the Aussie Open and made the final, so I know Jason a little bit, so that’d be nice just because I know him a little bit better than the other two guys.

“And then Peersy, we’ve played before and I know Peersy pretty well.

“It’s not like there’s a bad choice for any of the combinations. We’ll see on the day who’s feeling good, who’s doing well and wants to get out there and we’ll make the best decisions we can at the time.”

Australia made the final of both the women’s Billie Jean King Cup and men’s Davis Cup this season, going down in both events.

The men’s team played the final without Kyrgios but Stosur is sure he will rise to the challenge in the United Cup.

“There’s no secret that he loves the team environment and playing in a group and a team, and it does seem to bring out some of his best tennis,” she said.

“So I’m sure this United Cup is going to be absolutely no different to what we’ve seen him do in those sorts of situations before.

“He loves playing at home and we’ll be at Ken Rosewall Arena and hopefully have great crowds and excitement, so it’s going to be good fun.”

Sam Stosur is co-captain of Australia’s team alongside Lleyton Hewitt. Picture: Alex Coppel

A player masked mostly by dark glasses throughout her playing career, Stosur is less of a known quantity than Hewitt to the Aussie public and while there might not be any screams of “come on”, don’t expect her to take a back seat to the two-time grand slam champion as a captain.

“I think it’s going to be an awesome experience sitting out there watching Nick and Alex and Ajla and Zoe or Maddie and whoever else is playing,” she said of her sideline role.

“There’s no better seat in the house. So I’ll be riding it, I’m sure it’s going to be super exciting.

“Any time you wear your country’s colours, something else sort of happens to you.

“I know what it’s like to be playing out there, so I couldn’t imagine not being excited on the on the bench seat as well.”

As well as Stosur, the United Cup will feature playing captains from several nations including Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland), Alexander Bublik (Kazakhstan), Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria), Kirsten Flipkens (Belgium) and Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France).

Originally published as Sam Stosur, Lleyton Hewitt to co-captain Australia in new United Cup tennis event