Taking a quick look back, the 2019 season gave the tennis world some fairly big matchups, with its biggest, surprisingly coming at the tail end of the year and start of the new season. Battling it out for the first time ever on court, tennis fans had the pleasure of witnessing Serena Williams and Roger Federer compete in a mixed doubles match-up at the year’s annual Hopman Cup. A staple within the world of tennis, Hopman’s unique mix-gendered format was beloved by both the residents of Perth and by fans across the globe. With favor for the tournament being so high, when it was announced in 2019 that the Hopman Cup would be cancelled and subsequently replaced by the ATP Cup, backlash against the new tournament by both fans and WTA Players alike was overwhelming.

So, after only one season of play, the ATP Cup would subsequently cave to public outrage and be scrubbed from the calendar. Now, with a renewed need for an attractive season opener for the tennis schedule, the professional tour sought to quickly right its wrongs and by August of 2022 they would announce the revival of a mixed gendered team event in Australia. Thus, The United Cup was born, and though to casual tennis fans this multi-week event can at times be both confusing and overwhelming, overall, the tournament served its purpose as it provided topnotch stars with competitive matches, a lucrative prize purse and most importantly, the opportunity to tune up their games before this year’s first grand slam.

So, How Does It Work?

In its simplest form, the United Cup is basically a ‘hodge-podge” of all team tennis events combined into one. With star studded appearances, prize money and ranking points up for grabs, and fairly engaging off-court banter amongst players, the United Cup excelled at plucking each of the successful aspects of its predecessors, while also making up for where they fell short.

Unlike previous team events that were either split by gender or limited in terms of roster size or country participation. The United Cup expanded on each of these aspects by allowing up to 18 countries to participate in 4 person teams, that were comprised of the top two male and female players from their respective nations. These teams would then be divided into 6 round robin groups that would compete in pods of three across numerous cities in Australia. With the winners of said pods moving onto to the final site in Sydney to ultimately battle out for the coveted United Cup trophy and 15 million dollars in prize money.

Onto to the Ties!

Though new in its nature, the United Cup seemingly excelled at creating intense and competitive environments for its players and teams. Across the board even if overall team scores appeared to be lopsided, individual matches between players were fairly even throughout the tournament’s entirety, as seemingly lower ranked players consistently pushed top ranked stars to three set matches and at times even walked away with the win.

Players such as Alex de Minaur and Cam Norrie shined greatly in their respective ties as they overcame the likes of tennis great Rafael Nadal to assist their teams in earning wins over Spain. While countries such as Poland and Greece capitalized on their star power in mixed doubles as the duos of Hubert Hurkacz and Iga Switaek and Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari helped earn their teams’ narrow victories in the later stages of round robin ties. While underdog players such as Martina Trevisan seemingly reveled in the moments itself as she was able to overcome Sakkari in an intense three set battle that aided in propelling her team to the city finals.

The US Reigns Supreme

Ultimately, the United States would cruise to victory as they quickly dismantled Italy 4-0 in a fairly uncontested final. And though their championship run was somewhat expected as they dropped no more than one point across each of their ties, this victory does however mark a potential turning of the page for American players on the international stage.

U.S tennis, though having had sparks of greatness from individual players, has struggled as a collective to emulate the large-scale success they once had in the 90’s and early 2000’s. However, given the tremendous results of Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Jessica Pegula, and Madison Keys not only during the duration of this tournament, but throughout the 2022 season, it seems as though a new era of American dominance is upon us this recent victory further proves that these players can keep up with the best of the best across the globe.

The Stars Who Surged and Fizzled

Although Team US brought home the title, tennis is naturally an individual sport. The United Cup lived up to the hype in this category as there were numerous high caliber players whose star quality both shined through and faltered tremendously during the duration of the tournament. And with the Australian Open being right around the corner, many of these players will either have a lot to look forward to and / or worry about within the coming weeks. So, let’s take a look at the players who teams fell just short of the final site, but whose overall performance either rose above or fell apart throughout the event.

The MVP’s

Petra Kvitova

The current world number 16 put together an excellent week as she leaves the United Cup with an undefeated record. Playing what many could considered one of the best matches of the week, Kvitova successfully dismantled a very steady Pegula in her team’s opening match. Though 2022 was a fairly up and down season for the Czech star, if she continues this form, it would not be a surprise to see her have a great run in Melbourne.

Cam Norrie

The current number one for the Brits has continued his steady ascent to the top of the game. Going undefeated throughout the week, he would would earn the biggest win of his career defeating Rafael Nadal for the very first time with relative ease.

The Worrywarts

Alexander Zverev

Returning to the game for the first time since the 2022 French Open, he is back…..sorta / kinda. Zverev failed to win a single match during his time in Sydney. Thus, time will only tell if he will be able to regain his early 2022 form or if 2023 will simply be a year of continuing struggle for the former world number two.

Rafael Nadal

Since Wimbledon, Nadal’s form has been night and day as the tennis legend has struggled to stay consistent on tour. Although his game likely won’t be ready in time to be much of a threat during this year’s Australian Open, you can never really count out Nadal when it comes to tennis’s biggest stages.

Finals Thoughts.

With the United Cup drawing its final curtains, it tough to say where this tournament sits in the minds of tennis fans due to reactions of the event being seemingly mixed. For the players, it is clear. The overall formatting and the added incentive of both ranking points and prize money should be enough to provide continued interest in the event and encourage top stars to show up year in and year out. Therefore, the United Cup should be applauded. At the very least, the Cup brings backs an aspect of tennis that has always been appreciated – the ability to bridge the gap between the ATP and WTA tours and allowing both to compete and shine on the same stage side by side.

Update: Since writing the article two players, Alja Tomljanovic and Paula Badosa have pulled out of The Australian Open, with both athletes citing injury as the reason for their withdrawal.