Rafa Nadal and Nick Kyrgios are set to face-off in Sydney after they committed to starting off the Australian summer of tennis in style as the headline stars leading the inaugural United Cup.
Before the Australian Open in 2023, a country-based competition will take place in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney.
The top six WTA ranking-qualified countries, top five ATP ranking-qualified countries and the top five combined entry countries (making up 16 teams) will compete in a competition.
Australia will see Kyrgios and Ajla Tomjanovic join forces alongside Alex de Minaur, Jason Kubler, Zoe Hives, Maddison Inglis and doubles stars John Peers and Samantha Stosur rounding out Australia’s eight-player line-up for the mixed teams’ event from December 29 to January 8
While there has been speculation over Nadal’s future in the game, the 23-time champ appears to have put it to bed having been announced as part of the Spanish line-up alongside World No.13 Paula Badosa.
Australia and Spain were both drawn in Group D, which will most likely see Kyrgios and Nadal play each other.
Emerging tennis powerhouse Italy can call on 2021 Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini and rising star Martina Trevisan in their strong team.
Other notable entries include Norway’s world No.4 Casper Ruud, Germany’s Alexander Zverev, and Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic and Stan Wawrinka, along with dual Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic.
Greece will be seeded the No.1 team for the tournament with Maria Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas leading the nation.
The tennis world has lauded the star power heading to the inaugural event next year.
Many have also reacted with excitement at seeing Nadal on another campaign in Australia at least one more time.
