By Tony Fairbairn
- Cameron Norrie and Katie Boulter will lead Great Britain into the second edition of the United Cup
- Great Britain defeated hosts Australia in Perth and now take on USA in their second group match
PERTH, AUSTRALIA – Cameron Norrie and Katie Boulter gave Great Britain a great start to the United Cup with victory over Australia in Perth and now prepare to face defending champions USA.
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After a scintillating 2023 season, the new tennis season is upon us with high hopes expected for Brits. Those high hopes will look to be met as 2023 wasn’t the best season for British players with there being very few positives last season. However in 2024, Brits look to achieve better things as the Olympic Games approaches in the summer with many of the top Brits aiming for Grand Slam success.
Before we get to that stage, Great Britain will look to open up the new season at the second edition of the United Cup as they take on Australia and the United States in Perth. There have been some minor changes to the format ahead of the 2024 edition, so here is a reminder of the format of the competition and who is representing Great Britian at this year’s competition.
The Format
Just like last year, 18 teams will compete in this year’s United Cup with the 18 teams being split into six groups of three. However this year there will only be two cities hosting the event as Perth and Sydney have been given the honour of hosting the group stages with Sydney also hosting the semi-finals and final.
In the 2024 edition, ties have been shortened this year to make the tournament more efficient as each tie will have only one men’s singles match, one women’s singles match and will conclude with a mixed doubles match. The team to win two of the three rubbers wins the tie.
Every team in the competition has been allowed to nominate up to six players, therefore giving each member of their team a fair chance of participating. The winners of each group will qualify for the quarter-finals with the best runner-up from each city being awarded a place in the last eight.
Then it’s a knockout stage tournament to see who will be crowned the 2024 United Cup champions. Last year it was the United States who claimed the title after beating Italy 4-0 in last year’s final.
When is the tournament?
The group stages started on Friday 29th of December and will finish on Wednesday the third of January. On the same day as the group stages finish, the quarter-finals in Perth will take place while the Sydney quarter-finals commence on the Thursday and Friday. The semi-finals will then take place on Saturday the sixth of January while the final will take place on the Sunday.
Who is representing Great Britain?
As mentioned before, each team can choose up to six players to represent their country which will include three male players and three female players. Headlining the ATP side is Cameron Norrie, who will be desperately looking to improve his form heading into the Australian Open and he will be joined by Dan Evans and Neal Skupski. Meanwhile on the WTA side, Katie Boulter will lead the team with Fran Jones and Maia Lumsden completing the line-up. Captaining the team this year is national coach at the LTA Colin Beecher, who has been part of the ATP Cup, Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cup coaching set-up in previous years.
Great Britain’s group stage opponents
Great Britain’s two group stage opponents are Australia and defending champions the United States of America. Great Britain defeated Australia 2-1 in their first group match on Friday after singles wins for Norrie and Boulter. Their second group match against the USA will take place at 02:00 GMT time on Sunday 31st of December. Australia’s team are headlined by Alex De Minaur and Ajla Tomljanovic with John Millman, Matthew Ebden, Storm Hunter and Ellen Perez completing the line-up. While USA have Taylor Fritz and Jessica Pegula leading their team with Denis Kudla, Rajeev Ram, Alycia Parks and Desirae Krawczyk completing the team.
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The other groups
Should Great Britain win their group then they will face the winner of Group E in the second Quarter-Final with Group E containing Serbia, China and the Czech Republic in that group. If Great Britain do not win their group but are the best runner-up in Perth then they will face the winner of Group A which features Spain, Brazil and Poland.
In Sydney, Group B features Canada, Chile and Greece with the winner of that group facing the best runner-up in Sydney. Meanwhile the winner of the two other groups will face each other in the other quarter-final. In Group D, Germany, Italy and France will do battle while in Group F Croatia, Norway and the Netherlands will face each other.
Group Stage Schedule
Here is the entire group stage schedule with Great Britain’s first match beginning at 6am GMT time against Australia on Friday 29th of December:
*All times are GMT
Friday 29 December:
02:00: Spain v Brazil
09:00: Great Britain v Australia
23:30 Netherlands v Norway
Saturday 30 December:
02:00: Czech Republic v China
06:30: Italy v Germany
09:00: Poland v Brazil
23:30: Canada v Chile
Sunday 31 December:
02:00: USA v Great Britain
09:00: China v Serbia
23:30: Croatia v Norway
Monday 1 January:
02:00: Poland v Spain
06:30: France v Germany
09:00: USA v Australia
23:30: Greece v Chile
Tuesday 2 January:
02:00: Czech Republic v Serbia
06:30: Croatia v Netherlands
23:30: France v Italy
Wednesday 3 January:
06:30: Greece v Canada
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