Taylor Fritz, Coco Gauff lead US’s defence of United Cup title

Third-ranked Coco Gauff and sixth-ranked Taylor Fritz will team up again as the United States defends its championship at the United Cup next week in Australia.

The only combined ATP and WTA team event will kick off the 2026 tennis season, beginning on Jan. 2 in Perth and Sydney.

The tournament will give several of the world’s top players preparation matches ahead of the first major of the year, the Australian Open, which gets underway on Jan. 18 in Melbourne.

Eighteen teams, comprised of one ATP and one WTA player, will compete for the title. The teams are grouped in six three-team pools that will compete in round-robin play. The top team from each group along with the best runner-up will advance to the quarterfinals.

The semifinals and finals will take place in Sydney on Jan. 10 and 11.

All competition will take place on hard courts.

The matches will consist of an ATP match, a WTA match and a mixed-doubles match.

The U.S. squad, led by Gauff and Fritz, defeated Poland 2-0 in 2025 final. The United States also won the inaugural 2023 event, sweeping Italy 4-0 in a title match using a different format. Germany beat Poland 2-1 for the 2024 championship.

Poland will be a strong competitor with No. 2 Iga Swiatek and No. 73 Hubert Hurkacz (a former top-10 player) featuring.

The United States team will compete in Group A in Perth against Argentina on Jan. 3 and against Spain on Jan. 5.