Associations were combined with a cup – Newspaper Kommersant No. 202 (7403) dated 10/29/2022

The next tennis season will open with the United Cup, a new combined team tournament between the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), which will have a prize pool of $15 million and will be held in three cities in Australia. It will feature 18 national teams selected based on their positions in the men’s and women’s world rankings as of November 7th. The participation of tennis players from Russia and Belarus, who play under a neutral flag in the individual ATP and WTA competitions, is not provided for in the first draw of the United Cup.

The fact that the next tennis season will begin with the drawing of the United Cup, a new team tournament, which will be held by the ATP and WTA, the organizations announced simultaneously on their official websites. This competition kicks off on December 29th and will run for 11 days in Australia. The tournament formula is quite original. 18 teams will take part in it, divided into six subgroups – two each in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney. In each match, five meetings are played – two men’s and women’s singles, as well as one mixed doubles. The winners of each of the subgroups will determine the best team of the city in a face-to-face match, which gets into the semi-finals. The fourth semi-finalist will be determined by the results of the repechage tournament with the participation of three losers of the so-called final round of cities. The semi-finals and final will take place in Sydney. Such an unusual regulation clearly aims to provide rich game practice to the maximum number of athletes, for whom the Australian Open (Melbourne, January 16-29) will be the main start at the beginning of the year.

The prize fund of the tournament will be $15 million, which is provided by ATP and WTA in half.

Depending on the place in the rating, each player receives guarantee money for participation – from $5,000 to $200,000 plus prize money for each victory. In addition to money, following the results of the United Cup, an athlete can earn rating points (maximum – 500), and their number will depend not only on the results of the team, but also on the position in the rating of opponents for each match.

Thus, for a particular player, any entry to the court matters, even if his team is in a hopeless situation.

Selection for the United Cup will also be made according to special rules. The main criterion will be the male and female classifications as of November 7th. 12 teams will each lead the top six players in the ATP and WTA rankings, and another six teams will be able to qualify for the tournament in accordance with the best overall rating of the two best players – a tennis player and a tennis player. Each team must include a minimum of three and a maximum of four men and women. At the same time, the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus, who compete under a neutral flag in the ATP and WTA individual competitions, is not provided for in the first draw of the United Cup, and the Australian team, as the host of the tournament, is guaranteed a wild card in case of missing the rating.

De facto, the United Cup combines elements of the two previous January tournaments – the Hopman Cup (eight mixed teams of two players each), which was held by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) from 1989 to 2019 and had the status of the world championship in mixed doubles, as well as the ATP Cup (24 men’s teams), which existed for the last three seasons. At the same time, the ATP Cup was de facto a competitor to the Davis Cup, played in late autumn. The last circumstance is of fundamental importance. “Holding the United Cup can be considered the next step in the implementation of the strategy for further rapprochement between the leading tennis organizations, which, in addition to the ATP and WTA, of course, includes the ITF,” says Aleksey Selivanenko, a member of its board of directors. “The process is not easy, but in this case professional the tours concentrate on holding a mixed team tournament, with the Davis Cup becoming the only men’s team tournament. Thus, ATP and ITF reach an agreement on the main details.”

Evgeny Fedyakov