United Cup 2024: Players, nations, groups, tickets as tennis tournament returns to Australia

Joshua Mayne

United Cup 2024: Players, nations, groups, tickets as tennis tournament returns to Australia image

The United Cup — the ATP Cup's successor — is returning for 2024.

National teams will be going toe-to-toe as some of the sport's biggest names compete in the mixed warm-up event ahead of the Australian Open. 

The Sporting News takes you through the key details.

MORE: United Cup 2024 – Schedule and results

How does the United Cup work?

The United Cup is a mixed tennis tournament, played in a team competition format. 

Eighteen countries will take part in the upcoming event, with Sydney and Perth to host nine teams each — three more than last year.

Countries have been placed into six groups of three before facing off in a round-robin format.

Each tie will comprise one men's singles, one women's singles and one mixed doubles match.

The three group winners in each city will progress to the quarterfinals, joined by the best runner-up.

Sydney will then host the semifinals and final.

As a combined ATP-WTA event, a minimum of AU$15 million of prize money will be on offer, as well as 1000 combined rankings points.

Where is the United Cup being played? Schedule, dates, venues

The 2024 edition of the United Cup will be played in the Australian cities of Perth (RAC Arena) and Sydney (Ken Rosewall Arena).

It will run from December 29, 2023 through to January 7, 2024.

United Cup 2024: Perth schedule

Date Time (AEDT) Stage Group Teams
Fri. Dec. 29 1:00 p.m. Group A Spain vs. Brazil
Fri. Dec. 29 8:00 p.m. Group C Great Britain vs. Australia
Sat. Dec. 30 1:00 p.m. Group E Czech Republic vs. China
Sat. Dec. 30 8:00 p.m. Group A Poland vs. Brazil
Sun. Dec. 31 1:00 p.m. Group C USA vs. Great Britain
Sun. Dec. 31 8:00 p.m. Group E China vs. Serbia
Mon. Jan. 1 1:00 p.m. Group A Poland vs. Spain
Mon. Jan. 1 8:00 p.m. Group C USA vs. Australia
Tue. Jan. 2 1:00 p.m. Group E Czech Republic vs. Serbia
Wed. Jan. 3 1:00 p.m. QF1 - Group A winner vs. Best runner-up
Wed. Jan. 3 8:00 p.m. QF2 - Group C winner vs. Group E winner

United Cup 2024: Sydney schedule

Date Time (AEDT) Stage Group Teams
Sat. Dec. 30 10:30 a.m. Group F Netherlands vs. Norway
Sat. Dec. 30 5:30 p.m. Group D Italy vs. Germany
Sun. Dec. 31 10:30 a.m. Group B Canada vs. Chile
Mon. Jan. 1 10:30 a.m. Group F Croatia vs. Norway
Mon. Jan. 1 5:30 p.m. Group D France vs. Germany
Tue. Jan. 2 10:30 a.m. Group B Greece vs. Chile
Tue. Jan. 2 5:30 p.m. Group F Croatia vs. Netherlands
Wed. Jan. 3 10:30 a.m. Group D France vs. Italy
Wed. Jan. 3 5:30 p.m. Group B Greece vs. Canada
Thu. Jan. 4 5:30 p.m. QF3 - Group D winner vs. Group F winner
Fri. Jan. 5 5:30 p.m. QF4 - Group B winner vs. Best runner-up
Sat. Jan. 6 10:30 a.m. SF1 - QF1 winner vs. QF3 winner
Sat. Jan. 6 5:30 p.m. SF2 - QF2 winner vs. QF4 winner
Sun. Jan. 7 5:30 p.m. Final - SF1 winner vs. SF2 winner

The full schedule – including every game – can be viewed here.

United Cup 2024: How to buy tickets

Tickets for every stage of the United Cup are currently on sale via the tournament's official website.

General admission entrance for the group stage starts at AU$40, while entry to the finals in Sydney starts at AU$90.

United Cup 2024: Draw, groups, players, seeds

All 18 countries have now been announced for the United Cup.

Reigning men's Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic is a notable inclusion for Serbia, along with world No. 1 Iga Swiatek who is part of the top-seeded Poland team.

No. 2 seeds Greece have confirmed the participation of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari, while host nation Australia will be led by Alex de Minaur and Ajla Tomljanović. 

Notably, five of the world’s top 10 women and nine of the world’s top 20 men will play at the event.

Perth

Group A

#1 Poland

Hubert Hurkacz Iga Swiatek
Daniel Michalski Katarzyna Kawa
Jan Zielinski Katarzyna Piter

#11 Spain

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina Sara Sorribes Tormo
Roberto Carballes Baena Marina Bassols Ribera
Bernabe Zapata Miralles Nuria Parrizas Diaz

#17 Brazil

Thiago Seyboth Wild Beatriz Haddad Maia
Felipe Meligeni Alves Carolina Alves
Marcelo Melo -

Group C

#3 USA

Taylor Fritz Jessica Pegula
Denis Kudla Alycia Parks
Rajeev Ram Desirae Krawczyk

#8 Great Britain

Cameron Norrie Katie Boulter
Daniel Evans Francesca Jones
Neal Skupski Maia Lumsden

#15 Australia

Alex de Minaur Ajla Tomljanovic
John Millman Storm Hunter
Matt Ebden Ellen Perez

Group E

#5 Czech Republic

Jiri Lehecka Marketa Vondrousova
Vit Kopriva Sara Bejlek
Petr Nouza Miriam Kolodziejova

#9 China

Zhizhen Zhang Qinwen Zheng
Yunchaokete Bu Xiaodi You
Fajing Sun -

#13 Serbia

Novak Djokovic Olga Danilovic
Hamad Medjedovic Natalija Stevanovic
Nikola Cacic Dejana Radanovic

Sydney

Group B

#2 Greece

Stefanos Tsitsipas Maria Sakkari
Stefanos Sakellaridis Despina Papamichail
Petros Tsitsipas Valentini Grammatikopoulou

#7 Canada

Felix Auger-Aliassime Leylah Fernandez
Alexis Galarneau Stacey Fung
Peter Polansky -

#18 Chile

Nicolas Jarry Daniela Seguel
Tomas Barrios Vera Fernanda Labrana
Alejandro Tabilo -

Group D

#4 France

Adrian Mannarino Caroline Garcia
Antoine Escoffier Amandine Hesse
Edouard Roger-Vasselin Elixane Lechemia

#12 Italy

Lorenzo Sonego Jasmine Paolini
Flavio Cobolli Nuria Brancaccio
Andrea Pellegrino Angelica Moratelli

#16 Germany

Alexander Zverev Angelique Kerber
Maximilian Marterer Tatjana Maria
Kai Wehnelt Laura Siegemund

Group F

#6 Croatia

Borna Coric Donna Vekic
Nino Serdarusic Petra Marcinko
Ivan Dodig Tena Lukas

#10 Netherlands

Tallon Griekspoor Arantxa Rus
Thiemo De Bakker Arianne Hartono
Wesley Koolhof Demi Schuurs

#14 Norway

Casper Ruud Malene Helgo
Andreja Petrovic Ulrikke Eikeri
Nicolai Budkov Kjaer -

How are countries selected for the United Cup?

Countries for the tournament are selected from the nations of the top five men's and women's players, according to ATP and WTA rankings.

The remaining teams earned entry based on combined men's/women's rankings.

How to watch the United Cup

As the rights holders of the upcoming Summer of Tennis - including the Australian Open - the Nine Network will broadcast the United Cup in Australia. 

Fans will be able to watch most sessions across Nine's free-to-air channels – including Channel 9, Go! and 9Gem – but will need to check local guides.

The action can also be streamed for free on 9Now or via subscription service Stan Sport.

What happened to the ATP Cup?

Replacing the Hopman Cup in 2020, the ATP Cup has lasted just three years.

A male-only tournament, it pitted nations together in a team competition format. 

Team Serbia claimed the inaugural edition, with Team Russia (2021) and Team Canada (2022) the other victors. 

Ultimately, the ATP Cup has been replaced due to the increasing cooperation between the men's and women's tennis tours — the ATP and WTA. 

The significant prize pool for the United Cup reflects the backing mixed tournaments are receiving, as tennis prioritises efforts towards equality.

Joshua Mayne

Joshua Mayne Photo

Joshua Mayne is a content producer for The Sporting News Australia based in Sydney, Australia. He has previously worked as a newsreader at 2SER and journalist at Ministry of Sport. While Joshua’s main passions are football, rugby league, basketball and F1, he will watch any sport that's on. He is still waiting for Arsenal to win the Premier League again.