Rafael Nadal and Nick Kyrgios likely to lock horns to kick off the new season as United Cup draws are made

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal and World No. 22 Nick Kyrgios are set to clash in the season opener United Cup next season. The tournament will be the re-introduction of a mixed-gender team event after the Hopman Cup was discontinued in 2019. While the ATP Cup was brought in, the tournament was canceled after just three editions.

This year’s United Cup is scheduled between 29th December and January 8, initiating the commencement of the 2023 Australian Open series. The event will be played in 3 cities, namely Brisbane, Perth, and Sydney. 18 nations will be contesting in the tournament with each team having 4 ATP and 4 WTA players.

The tournament will offer equal points on both tours, with the winners taking 500 points with them. Along with this, the event will also have a prize money pool of $15 million. Each team will play in four singles matches, two men’s and two women’s, along with a mixed doubles match in the round-robin stage.

Teams are split into 6 groups with 3 teams each and each host city will have 2 groups. From this, group winners in each city will compete in a playoff match for one of three semifinal spots. The last spot will be granted to the best second-placed teams across all groups completing the top 4.

Also Read: ATP Finals 2022: Rafael Nadal gets lucky with the draw, Novak Djokovic handed a nightmare group

Sydney to witness the Rafael Nadal and Nick Kyrgios clash

Sydney is the only city yet to know all of its 6 participating nations after the draws were made. As for Brisbane and Perth, one team in each city is yet to be confirmed, which will be confirmed in due course of time. Due to this, Groups A and B are yet to be completed as they wait for the third team.

Group A and F will play in Perth, Group B, and E in Brisbane, and Group C and D in Sydney. Of the 18 teams, 6 teams have qualified on the basis of their highest-ranked ATP player, 6 teams based on their highest-ranked WTA player and the other 6 on the basis of the combined ranking of their number-one ranked ATP and WTA players.

Teams, as per their cities, are listed below with their highest-ranked player also mentioned:

Perth:

Group A:

• Greece – Maria Sakkari (World No. 6) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (World No. 3)
• Belgium – Elise Mertens (World No. 29) and David Goffin (World No. 53)
• TBD

Group F:

• France – Caroline Garcia (World No. 4) and Arthur Rinderknech (World No. 44)
• Croatia – Petra Martic (World No. 39) and Borna Coric (World No. 26)
• Argentina – Nadia Podoroska (World No. 39 by Protected Ranking) and Diego Schwartzman (World No. 25)

Brisbane:

Group B:

• Poland – Iga Swiatek (World No. 1) and Hubert Hurkacz (World No. 11)
• Switzerland – Belinda Bencic (World No. 12) and Stan Wawrinka (World No. 22 by Protected Ranking)
• TBD

Group E:

• Italy – Martina Trevisan (World No. 28) and Matteo Berrettini (World No. 16)
• Brazil – Beatriz Haddad Maia (World No. 15) and Thiago Monteiro (World No. 65)
• Norway – Ulrikke Eikeri (World No. 375) and Casper Ruud (World No. 4)

Sydney:

Group C:

• USA – Jessica Pegula (World No. 3) and Taylor Fritz (World No. 9)
• Germany – Laura Siegemund (World No. 57 by Protected Ranking) and Alexander Zverev (World No. 2 by Protected Ranking)
• Czech Republic – Petra Kvitova (World No. 16) and Jiri Lehecka (World No. 74)

Group D:

• Spain – Paula Badosa (World No. 13) and Rafael Nadal (World No. 2)
• Australia – Ajla Tomljanovic (World No. 33) and Nick Kyrgios (World No. 22)
• Great Britain – Harriet Dart (World No. 98) and Cameron Norrie (World No. 14)

Also Read: Rafael Nadal shockingly dismisses Roger Federer and claims that Novak Djokovic is his ‘GREATEST’ rival ahead of the ATP Finals

Also Read: “Let’s see what color it has, Chocolate with milk” Ilie Nastase once mocked Serena Williams with degrading remarks over her pregnancy