Captain Kyrgios named for new $23m tennis comp

Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek person been named amongst the star-studded tract acceptable to contention the inaugural United Cup - a caller mixed tennis tourney to beryllium played down nether this summer.

The squad contention format is simply a round-robin tourney that includes entries from tennis' top-ranked countries, with Team Greece - captained by satellite No.3 Stefanos Tsitsipas and No.6 Maria Sakkari - named arsenic the apical seeds.

World No.1 Swiatek and No.11 Hubert Hurkacz volition pb second-seeded Poland, with the third-seeded federation the United States stacked with talent, including satellite No.3 Jessica Pegula, ninth-ranked Taylor Fritz, satellite No.11 Madison Keys and satellite No.19 Frances Tiafoe.

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World No.22 Nick Kyrgios volition pb Australia astatine the United Cup. (Getty)

Nadal volition squad up with satellite No.13 Paula Badosa to correspond Spain, portion Italy volition prima satellite No.16 Matteo Berrettini and Martina Trevisan.

France rounds retired the apical six seeds, led by WTA finals victor and satellite No.4 Caroline Garcia and Arthur Rinderknech.

Other notable entries see Norway's satellite No.4 Casper Ruud, Germany's Alexander Zverev and Switzerland's Belinda Bencic and Stan Wawrinka, on with Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic.

Each necktie volition comprise 2 men's and 2 women's singles matches and 1 mixed doubles match.

Top-ranked Aussies Nick Kyrgios and Ajla Tomljanovic volition skipper the greenish and gold, portion instrumentality favourites Alex de Minaur, Jason Kubler, John Peers, Zoe Hives, Maddison Inglis and Samantha Stosur implicit the remainder of Team Australia.

The lawsuit volition connection implicit $23 cardinal successful prize wealth and up to 500 Pepperstone ATP and 500 WTA rankings points.

"The playing radical is precise excited astir the United Cup, and that's confirmed successful the precocious prime and calibre of those who've committed to the event," United Cup tourney manager Stephen Farrow said.

"We are delighted with the extent and breadth of the teams, and we tin look guardant to galore breathtaking matchups and tons of entertaining tennis."

The tourney volition beryllium played crossed Brisbane, Perth and Sydney from December 29 to January 4, successful the pb up to adjacent year's Australian Open. Each metropolis volition big 2 groups of 3 countries.

The winners of each radical - with the summation of the champion performing squad from the radical signifier - volition past look off, with the metropolis winners advancing to the last 4 which volition beryllium held successful Sydney from January 6 to 8.

"The United Cup besides marks the instrumentality of planetary tennis to Brisbane and Perth and we cognize the fans can't hold to soak up each the action," Farrow said.

"All 3 cities volition relish the accidental to spot the world's champion players unite and vie broadside by broadside arsenic we motorboat the tennis play globally present successful Brisbane, Perth and Sydney."

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