Has the United Cup found its place?

Established three years ago, with the fourth edition shortly to get underway, the United Cup has taken the place of the much-loved Hopman Cup amidst considerable change across the tennis landscape, at least for team competitions. The Davis Cup is now seemingly neither one thing nor the other, contested at intervals through the year before the Davis Cup Finals to close the year, with the Billie Jean King Cup following the same format but with a Finals in mid-September.

The scheduling for both events is far from ideal, with the BJK Cup coming hot on the heels of the US Open and the Davis Cup Finals in late November. The enthusiasm for both events has been impacted with just one top 10 player making the trip to Bologna for the Davis Cup Finals. The BJK Cup could boast a marginally better three top 10 players, but it is hardly a turnout to write home about. For both tournaments, it reflects a sharp decline compared with the prestige they once enjoyed.

Located at the start of the season, the United Cup has a better chance of attracting the world’s best by serving as a warm-up for the first Major of the season rather than as a follow-up. There have still been a number of withdrawals ahead of the tournament with eligible teams not always featuring as a result of their #1 player choosing a different warm-up route for the Australian Open, but the field has generally been strong and the players committed to winning the title.

But, not entirely unlike the Laver Cup, it does also straddle an uncomfortable position between being an exhibition and a genuine tournament, and certainly doesn’t fulfil the role of a ‘World Cup’ of tennis (which is at any rate a contested title also claimed by other events).

There is also the potentially significant matter of a further ATP Masters 1000 which will be added to the tennis calendar come 2028. A specific date has not yet been agreed for this event, but there are not many gaps in the tennis calendar and it has been rumoured that the Saudi authorities are keen to push for this event to be early in the season. Practically, it probably won’t be possible to insert it before the Australian Open, but even if it is in February (and isn’t mandatory), it is likely to result in players reconsidering their calendars.

That is probably not good news for the United Cup. One possible solution is to expand the event at the expense of some of the other warm-up tournaments that run concurrently in Australia, but that will likely be a tough sell to the host cities and organisers. Particularly for a tournament that is still finding its feet in the United Cup.

The reality is that, as it stands, there are simply too many team tournaments taking place every year for what is fundamentally an individual sport. An Olympic Gold has massive cachet (albeit less than a Major) but that is because the Olympics are only contested every four years. The idea that less is more has become alien to governing bodies across all of sport and tennis is no exception. But it is a lesson that the United Cup might have to learn if it is not to fall by the wayside.