Hewitt, Henman, Wawrinka among United Cup captains
Lleyton Hewitt, Tim Henman and Stan Wawrinka are among the star-studded lineup of past and current tennis stars to captain teams at the 2026 United Cup.
The fourth edition of the innovative mixed team competition will again open the global tennis season, with 18 countries set to compete under the guidance of some of the sport’s most respected names from 2-11 January across Perth and Sydney.
In Perth, three-time major champion Wawrinka will act as a playing captain for Team Switzerland alongside WTA No. 11 Belinda Bencic. Team Switzerland will face Italy and France in Group C action.
Henman, who inspired a British tennis revival in the 1990s by becoming the first Briton to reach the men’s semi-finals at Wimbledon in 25 years, will captain Team Great Britain, starring World No. 10 Jack Draper and WTA No. 29 Emma Raducanu in Group E.
Lucas Pouille, former No. 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings, will lead Team France, which will feature French No. 1s Arthur Rinderknech and Lois Boisson in Group C.
Former Japanese player Go Soeda will guide Japan in their United Cup debut with four-time major champion Naomi Osaka and 2019 Wimbledon boys’ singles titlist Shintaro Mochizuki in the same group as Great Britain and Greece.
In Sydney, home favourites Australia will be spearheaded by former World No. 1 and two-time major champion Hewitt in Group D.
Gabriela Dabrowski, a Top 10 doubles player on the Hologic WTA Tour, will head up second seeds Team Canada, which includes World No. 5 Felix Auger-Aliassime and teenage sensation Victoria Mboko.
Rounding out the list are a number of father-son duos, including Alexander Zverev Sr.for Team Germany, Christian Ruud for Team Norway and Stefano Cobolli steering Team Italy.
Tickets to the United Cup are on sale now. View the list of teams below:
|
Seed |
Country |
No. 1 player |
Captain |
Host city |
|
1 |
USA |
Coco Gauff |
Michael Russell |
Perth |
|
2 |
Canada |
Felix Auger-Aliassime |
Gabriela Dabrowski |
Sydney |
|
3 |
Italy |
Jasmine Paolini |
Stefano Cobolli |
Perth |
|
4 |
Australia |
Alex de Minaur |
Lleyton Hewitt |
Sydney |
|
5 |
Great Britain |
Jack Draper |
Tim Henman |
Perth |
|
6 |
Germany |
Alexander Zverev |
Alexander Zverev Sr |
Sydney |
|
7 |
Belgium |
Elise Mertens |
Christopher Heyman |
Sydney |
|
8 |
France |
Arthur Rinderknech |
Lucas Pouille |
Perth |
|
9 |
Poland |
Iga Swiatek |
Mateusz Terczynski |
Sydney |
|
10 |
Spain |
Jaume Munar |
Miguel Sanchez |
Perth |
|
11 |
Czechia |
Barbora Krejcikova |
Jiri Novak |
Sydney |
|
12 |
Greece |
Stefanos Tsitsipas |
Petros Tsitsipas |
Perth |
|
13 |
Japan |
Naomi Osaka |
Go Soeda |
Perth |
|
14 |
Argentina |
Sebastian Baez |
Sebastian Gutierrez |
Perth |
|
15 |
Netherlands |
Tallon Griekspoor |
Tallon Griekspoor |
Sydney |
|
16 |
Switzerland |
Belinda Bencic |
Stan Wawrinka |
Perth |
|
17 |
Norway |
Casper Ruud |
Christian Ruud |
Sydney |
|
18 |
China |
Zhu Lin |
Di Wu |
Sydney |