United Cup 2026: Full Schedule, Format, Star Players and How to Watch Live

The 2026 tennis season begins in style next week, when some of the world’s best talents converge on Australia for the United Cup.

The fourth edition of the mixed-gender team competition will take place from January 2 to January 11, with 18 nations competing for the title.

The United States is the defending champions, having won the inaugural event in 2023. Germany won the title in 2024, whereas Poland finished second the previous two years.

The event will feature four of the world’s top ten men: Alexander Zverev, Felix Auger Aliassime, Taylor Fritz, and Alex de Minaur, with Jack Draper withdrawing due to an injury. Three of the world’s top ten women, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, and Jasmine Paolini, are also participating.

Ties will be played in Perth and Sydney, with the tournament serving as an excellent preparation for the Australian Open, which begins in Melbourne on January 12.

Olympics.com has compiled a comprehensive overview of the United Cup 2026.

The Format:

Six groups of three teams compete in a round-robin format. Three groups will compete in Perth, and three in Sydney.

Each tie includes three matches played on the same day: one men’s singles, one women’s singles, and one mixed doubles. Singles matches are best of three tiebreak sets. Mixed doubles matches are best of two tie-break sets, with a 10-point tie-break at one set apiece.

The top team from each group will advance to the quarterfinals, with one knockout spot reserved for the best runner-up in both Perth and Sydney.

The winners will advance to the semi-finals and final, all of which will take place in Sydney.

The groups

Perth

Group A

• United States
• Spain
• Argentina

Group C

• Italy
• France
• Switzerland

Group E

• Great Britain
• Greece
• Japan

Sydney

Group B

• Canada
• Belgium
• People’s Republic of China

Group D

• Australia
• Czech Republic
• Norway

Group F

• Germany
• Poland
• Netherlands

The players

United States

• Coco Gauff
• Varvara Lepchenko
• Nicole Melichar-Martinez
• Taylor Fritz
• Mackenzie McDonald
• Christian Harrison

Spain

• Jessica Bouzas Maneiro
• Andrea Lazaro Garcia
• Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers
• Jaume Munar
• Carlos Taberner
• Iñigo Cervantes

Argentina

• Solana Sierra
• Maria Lourdes Carle
• Nicole Fossa Huergo
• Sebastian Baez
• Marco Trungelliti
• Guido Andreozzi

Italy

• Jasmine Paolini
• Nuria Brancaccio
• Sara Errani
• Flavio Cobolli
• Andrea Pellegrino
• Andrea Vavassori

France

• Lois Boisson
• Leolia Jeanjean
• Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah
• Arthur Rinderknech
• Geoffrey Blancaneaux
• Edouard Roger-Vasselin

Switzerland

• Belinda Bencic
• Celine Naef
• Naima Karamoko
• Stan Wawrinka
• Jakub Paul
• Luca Castelnuovo

Great Britain

• Emma Raducanu
• Katie Swan
• Olivia Nicholls
• Billy Harris
• Neal Skupski

Greece

• Maria Sakkari
• Despina Papamichail
• Sapfo Sakellaridi
• Stefanos Tsitsipas
• Stefanos Sakellaridis
• Petros Tsitsipas

Japan

• Naomi Osaka
• Nao Hibino
• Shintaro Mochizuki
• Yasutaka Uchiyama

Canada

• Victoria Mboko
• Kayla Cross
• Gabriela Dabrowski
• Felix Auger-Aliassime
• Alexis Galarneau
• Cleeve Harper

Belgium

• Elise Mertens
• Greet Minnen
• Lara Salden
• Zizou Bergs
• Kimmer Coppejans
• Sander Gille

People’s Republic of China

• Zhu Lin
• You Xiaodi
• Zhang Zhizhen
• Te Rigele
• Wang Aoran

Australia

• Maya Joint
• Maddison Inglis
• Storm Hunter
• Alex De Minaur
• Jason Kubler
• John-Patrick Smith

Czech Republic

• Barbora Krejcikova
• Linda Fruhvirtova
• Miriam Skoch
• Jakub Mensik
• Dalibor Svrcina
• Adam Pavlasek

Norway

• Malene Helgo
• Astrid Brune Olsen
• Ulrikke Eikeri
• Casper Ruud
• Viktor Durasovic

Germany

• Eva Lys
• Laura Siegemund
• Mina Hodzic
• Alexander Zverev
• Patrick Zahraj
• Kevin Krawietz

Poland

• Iga Swiatek
• Katarzyna Kawa
• Katarzyna Piter
• Hubert Hurkacz
• Daniel Michalski
• Jan Zielinski

Netherlands

• Suzan Lamens
• Eva Vedder
• Demi Schuurs
• Tallon Griekspoor
• Guy Den Ouden
• David Pel

The schedule

2 January

• Perth – Group A – Spain v Argentina
• Perth – Group E – Greece v Japan

3 January

• Sydney – Group B – Belgium v People’s Republic of China
• Sydney – Group D – Australia v Norway
• Perth – Group C – France v Switzerland
• Perth – Group A – USA v Argentina

4 January

• Sydney – Group F – Germany v Netherlands
• Sydney – Group B – Canada v People’s Republic of China
• Perth – Group E – Great Britain v Japan
• Perth – Group C – Italy v Switzerland

5 January

• Sydney – Group D – Czech Republic v Norway
• Sydney – Group F – Germany v Poland
• Perth – Group A – USA v Spain
• Perth – Group E – Great Britain v Greece

6 January

• Sydney – Group B – Canada v Belgium
• Sydney – Group D – Australia v Czech Republic
• Perth – Group C – Italy v France

7 January

• Sydney – Group F – Poland v Netherlands
• Perth – Quarter-Final 1 – Winner Group A v Best Runner-Up
• Perth – Quarter-Final 2 – Winner Group C v Winner Group E

8 January

• Sydney – Quarter-Final 3 – Winner Group B v Best Runner-Up

9 January

• Sydney – Quarter-Final 4 – Winner Group D v Winner Group F

10 January

• Sydney – Semi-Final 1 – Winner Quarter-Final 2 v Winner Quarter-Final 3
• Sydney – Semi-Final 2 – Winner Quarter-Final 1 v Winner Quarter-Final 4

11 January

• Sydney – Final – Winner Semi-Final 1 v Winner Semi-Final 2

How to Watch

Fans in the United States, Great Britain, Austria, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and India will be able to watch all of the 2026 United Cup matches live on the Tennis Channel.

The tournament will also be broadcast on several TV channels throughout the world.