United Cup: Follow the news and results from new teams event
Despite an uncharacteristic defeat, Spanish legend Rafael Nadal has refuted questions about his longevity in a sport which has seen him capture a remarkable 22 Grand Slam titles.
Even fatherhood can’t help Rafael Nadal hold off Father Time.
The most prolific grand slam winner of all time, Nadal is edging ever closer to the end of his stellar career.
Now a dad, Nadal has been wowing Australian tennis fans for almost two decades and while he says he still has no plans to retire soon, at 36, he knows he can’t go on forever.
Win or lose, every appearance Nadal makes in Australia from now on is worth savouring.
On Saturday — in his last match for 2022 — Nadal lost, beaten 3-6 6-3 6-4 by Britain’s Cameron Norrie, who is almost a decade younger, in the United Cup at Sydney’s Olympic tennis centre.
When he won the opening set, Nadal looked just like the matador he has always been, controlling everything on the centre court.
But when he lost the next two sets to concede defeat, his legs looked tired and his receding hairline looked even thinner than normal.
Norrie is a player on the rise but had never won a set against Nadal before.
The Spaniard looked his age but was unfazed by the loss and still looking ahead to defending his Australian Open title.
“It was not a disaster at all,” he said.
“I can do things, of course, better, and I need to do it.
“I need to be a little bit faster physically, a little bit more solid, some less mistakes and making better decisions on some points, playing a little bit longer.
“He did a lot of things very well and in my case I think there is a way to prove. I have time before the Australian Open starts in a couple of weeks.
“We still focus on this competition. I have to take the negative things and try to fix that and at the same time, take some positive things, I have been competitive.”
With 22 grand slam titles — more than any other man who has played the game — Nadal has nothing left to prove to anyone.
Nadal has battled injuries in recent years — reluctantly withdrawing from his Wimbledon semi-final against Nick Kyrgios in July — but says he’s not even thinking about hanging up his racquet — even when getting quizzed repeatedly by journalists.
“When I arrive at the day that I go out on the court and say ‘that’s getting hard’ then that’s the day to say goodbye,” he said.
“I don‘t need to keep playing for no reason at all. The reason that I make sense and keep playing is I really enjoy what I do and I really feel it (even though) I already did much more than what I dreamt.
“I lost my match. And now every time I come into a press conference, it‘s ‘I have to retire’.
“So you are very, very interested in my retirement but for the moment, it‘s not the case.
“When this day arrives, I will let you know but don‘t keep (asking him about retirement) because I’m here to keep playing tennis.”
Zverev crashes in United Cup comeback
Former world No. 2 Alexander Zverev has crashed to a straight-sets defeat in his first tour match since returning from a serious leg injury.
A clearly rusty Zverev, who missed six months of tennis after he tore ankle ligaments in his French Open semi-final loss to Rafael Nadal in June, looked troubled throughout his 6-4 6-2 loss to Czech world No. 81 Jiri Lehecka.
The German star, who fell from second to 12th in the world rankings while sidelined, hit eight double faults in the two-set fixture at Sydney’s Ken Rosewall Arena on Saturday.
Zverev showed glimpses of his fiery spirit to fend off two break points in the first set, but a double fault trailing 4-5 gave the Czech a set-point opening, which he seized.
After being broken early in the second, the German managed to fire back with a break point of his own, but it was to no avail as his serve struggled to keep up with the hard-hitting Lehecka.
“I knew before the match that he didn’t play for a while but with a player like this, it can of course mean nothing,” Lehecka said after the match.
“I was able to show up in crucial moments. All the experience from last year, losing to good players, gave me the confidence to play against a player like him.”
“My tennis is far away from the level I want it to be but I think it‘s also normal, not playing for seven months,” Zverev said.
“Physically I‘m not at the level that I have to be. This is not even a question.
“I‘m getting tired, I think a lot quicker than I always did. I’m not as fast as I probably was. To be honest, I’m only pain free for about two, three weeks now.
“It will be a few weeks until I‘m back to the level I want to be.”
A semi-finalist at the Australian Open in 2021, Zverev is already playing down his prospects of challenging for the title this time.
“I think it‘s tough to set expectations high right now,” he said.
“It would be unrealistic and also quite stupid for me to set the expectations towards winning or something like that,” he said.
“Of course, I want to win. Everybody wants to win. For me, it‘s about getting back the form that I’m used to.”
Marie Bouzkova beat Jule Niemeier 6-2 7-5 in the women’s singles match to give the Czechs a 2-0 lead over the Germans in the best-of-five tie that will continue Sunday.
The result has squared the ledger at one win each in the teams format.
Are new Cup’s ‘obscure match-ups’ short-changing tennis fans?
Tennis fans are already campaigning to bring back the Brisbane International after realising the galaxy of stars that shone in the Queensland capital during that tournament has become a fleeting sighting of exceptional talent at the opening edition of the United Cup.
Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Andy Murray, Maria Sharapova — all were once familiar faces in Queensland in January before the sport’s shiny new teams competition consigned the Brisbane International to the shelf.
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek and men’s No. 3 Casper Ruud are the main drawcards at Pat Rafter Arena this week and genuine stars of the world game.
Swiatek’s Poland teammate Hubert Hurkacz (10), Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic (12), Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia (15), Matteo Berrettini (16) and three-time grand slam winner Stan Wawrinka are also outstanding talents turning out in Brisbane this week.
But that’s six players of 44 at the Brisbane leg of the tournament, ranked in the top 20.
Under the tournament format of two men’s and two women’s singles matches, several mind-numbing matches will be played, testing the loyalty of Queensland fans.
Certainly Brisbane is the United Cup’s ugly duckling.
Sydney scored the Aussies and a Spanish team featuring Rafael Nadal, as well as fan favourites the US and Britain.
Perth has teams including Greece, Bulgaria and France, with household names Stefanos Tsitsipas and Grigor Dimitrov facing one another on Thursday, while world No. 6 Maria Sakkari, Elise Mertens (29) and last year’s Australian Open quarter-finalist Alize Cornet will also play at RAC Arena.
The situation has led many to call for the return of the Brisbane International — even supporters of Tennis Australia’s joint venture with the ATP and WTA.
The winners’ list in Brisbane includes a who’s who of the sport, including Roger Federer (2015), Serena Williams (2013, 2014), Andy Murray (2012, 2013), Kim Clijsters (2010), Maria Sharapova (2015) and hometown heroes Lleyton Hewitt (2014) and Nick Kyrgios (2018).
Respected tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg is a supporter of the United Cup concept but said there would be some testing matches for fans.
I love the idea of a big mixed team competition, but I fear United Cup is starting much too big by having 18 teams of four singles players each.
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) December 28, 2022
There are going to be some very obscure match-ups showcased on some very big main stadiums in Perth and Brisbane: pic.twitter.com/9GfedeeMTH
I hope United Cup does well because I think there is just so much untapped value in the mixed nature of pro tennis, but if I'm a local fan, particularly in Brisbane, I'm missing the consistently incredible lineups I got at that event when it was a WTA 500/ATP 250 last decade.
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) December 28, 2022
“I love the idea of a big mixed team competition, but I fear United Cup is starting much too big by having 18 teams of four singles players each,” he said in a Twitter post.
“There are going to be some very obscure match-ups showcased on some very big main stadiums in Perth and Brisbane.
“I hope United Cup does well because I think there is just so much untapped value in the mixed nature of pro tennis, but if I’m a local fan, particularly in Brisbane, I’m missing the consistently incredible line-ups I got at that event (Brisbane International) when it was a WTA 500/ATP 250 last decade.”
Sydney, Brisbane and Perth are locked in as United Cup venues for the opening three years of the competition, although the push for the return of the Brisbane International has started in earnest.
United Cup Brisbane general manager Cameron Pearson said at the tournament’s Queensland launch last month the event meant the end of the Brisbane International — for now at least.
“The United Cup is our new event for Australia,” Pearson said.
“It’s obviously bringing the men and the women together. So the Brisbane International right now is sitting on the shelf while we play the United Cup and we think this is going to be the event for Australia for the next decade or two.
“It’s going to start the global tennis season every year — men and women on the same team and the players especially, are really thrilled to be part of this.”
The appearance money paid to the top players in the world certainly makes it attractive.
The nine players currently ranked in the top 10 will each receive $US200,000 just for turning up to play their two group matches, while players ranked 11-20 each pocket $US100,000.
The teams nature of the event and the fact the men and women play together is also prized by players but there are questions over whether it will be supported fully in the centres that do not host the Aussies.
I’m sorry @TennisAustralia but you have killed off professional tennis in Qld. The Brisbane International was a world class event. What you are serving up this week is extremely disappointing. No wonder your ticket sales are slow! #AussiesInSydneypic.twitter.com/npxLaPqPTe
— Zane Bojack (@zanofc) December 28, 2022
ABC Queensland sports journalist Zane Bojack accused Tennis Australia of having “killed off professional tennis in Qld”.
“The Brisbane International was a world class event,” Bojack said in a social media post.
“What you are serving up this week is extremely disappointing. No wonder your ticket sales are slow! #AussiesInSydney.”
Norway’s team in particular, has several players that would battle to make the main draw of any major ATP or WTA tournament, with Ruud’s high ranking qualifying the team.
Apart from the world No. 3, Norway has men’s players ranked 343 and 1275 in singles, while its three women are ranked between 319 and 763 in the world.
Kazakhstan also has two women ranked 441 and 588.
Starved of international tennis for the past two years due to Covid, Queenslanders turned out in reasonable numbers for the opening day of play but the stadium was well short of its 5497 capacity despite cut-price ticket deals being spruiked in the lead-up to the event.
Just 5175 fans watched the action over two sessions, meaning capacity was at just under 50 per cent for the opening day despite some quality clashes.
Perth’s cavernous RAC Arena, which can hold around 13,000 fans attracted 8278 over two sessions on Thursday, while even Sydney, which featured Australia’s opening matches, had 9508 watching over the day and night sessions.
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