Scouting Report: Fritz, Zverev & Auger-Aliassime among ATP stars to watch at United Cup | ATP Tour

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Preview: Fritz, Zverev and Auger-Aliassime among ATP stars to watch at United Cup

The ultimate summary of what every fan should know about the mixed team event

January 01, 2026

For the fourth consecutive season, the calendar begins with the United Cup, a mixed team event that brings together the top stars of the ATP and WTA in Australia.

This year, the event again brings together 18 countries in six teams in Sydney and Perth. ATPtour.com looks at five things to watch from the United Cup with a preview of the Brisbane International presented by ANZ and the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open coming up later in the week.

1) United States defending champion: In three United Cup events, the United States has won twice. Taylor Fritz has been a regular for his country in this mixed team event and returns with Coco Gauff to defend their trophy. Twelve months ago the Americans swept Poland in the final and will try to stop 17 other countries in the tournament.

Individually, Fritz has compiled a 9-3 singles record at the United Cup since 2023, including wins over Alexander Zverev, Hubert Hurkacz and Matteo Berrettini, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. He enters the season as the No. 6 player in the PIF ATP Rankings.

2) Auger-Aliassime among the top 10 talents: There are eight ATP singles players ranked or ranked in the Top 10 in the world competing in the United Cup. The stars present in the Top-10 are Zverev from Germany, Felix Auger-Aliassime from Canada, Fritz from the United States and Alex de Minaur from Australia.

World No. 5 Auger-Aliassime in particular comes to the United Cup with momentum. The Canadian is fresh off the best season of his career, qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals for the second time. Auger-Aliassime made the Masters 1000 final in Paris and won three ATP Tour titles in 2025 in addition to his run to the US Open semi-finals. 25-year-old and 19-year-old Victoria Mboko talk about the topic on their country list in Sydney, where they visited with koalas and kangaroos at the zoo on Wednesday.

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Former World No. 2 Casper Ruud (Norway), former World No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece) and Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland), and Poland’s Hurkacz will also be playing. De Minaur will face Ruud in Group D and Zverev will face Hurkacz in Group F, both games in Sydney at the Ken Rosewall Arena.

3) De Minaur flies the Australian flag: De Minaur loves playing at home, especially in his hometown of Sydney, where he won his first ATP Tour title in 2019 at the age of 19. The home favorite leads the way for Australia in the ATP No. 1 Club member Lleyton Hewitt captains. Maya Joint, the world’s number one WTA player, is competing in the United Cup for the first time. But it will be De Minaur who will lead this team in the event where he defeated Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Zverev and Fritz.

4) Mensik is a man to watch: The 2025 season marked Jakub Mensik’s breakthrough on the big stage. The Czech righty started the season inside the Top 50 and finished as a top 20 star with a Masters 1000 title to his name. The Miami champion has established himself as a fearless competitor regardless of the division, and will bring his game to the United Cup for the first time. The 20-year-old will have to be sharp for the first ball in Sydney, where he will play De Minaur and Ruud in Group D.

5) Hurkacz returns: Pole Hurkacz has played a major role in helping Poland reach the United Cup final twice and will look to do so again in 2026. But this marks the 28-year-old’s first competition since June in ‘s-Hertogenbosch due to a knee injury. The former world number 6 will be looking for revenge against Zverev, who beat him in the 2024 United Cup final. He will also play Dutch player Tallon Griekspoor, with whom he holds a 3-2 Lexus ATP Head2Head advantage.

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