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De Minaur, Draper, Raducanu join early commits for United Cup 2026

Team Australia’s Alex de Minaur and Maya Joint and Great Britain’s Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu have committed early to United Cup 2026.

They join Team Poland’s World No. 2 Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz as the first three teams to be confirmed for the fourth edition of the innovative mixed-team tennis event across Perth and Sydney from 2 to 11 January.

Home favourite De Minaur, the 26-year-old Sydneysider who returned to a career-high PIF ATP Ranking of No. 6 this week, will spearhead the Australian team in his fourth appearance at the event.

“The United Cup is going to be a lot of fun,” De Minaur said. “The event is unique and it offers up something completely different for fans. They love to embrace the format and get behind the Aussies at home.

“The energy at the United Cup is electric. It’s fun being on court but also on the bench, being loud and noisy, supporting each other.”

Joint, Australia’s top-ranked women’s singles player, will line up alongside De Minaur in her first appearance for Team Australia. The 19-year-old claimed her first two WTA singles titles in 2025 and has risen from World No. 730 to No. 32 in two years.

British No. 1s Draper and Raducanu will also debut at the United Cup in 2026. Draper, who climbed to a career-high PIF ATP Ranking of No. 4 in June after winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells, is looking forward to starting the new tennis season at the United Cup.

“I am excited to get back on court and compete in the United Cup. I’ll be looking out for the draw to see if Team GB will play in Perth or Sydney,” Draper said. “I haven’t been to either so it will be nice to compete in a brand new city in Australia.”

“I’m honoured to be able to make my United Cup debut in January,” US Open 2021 champion Raducanu said. “Being able to play for Team GB with my teammates is a unique opportunity and week to enjoy. It’s great to be able to experience a new format on the tour, represent my country and spend a couple extra weeks in Australia.”

United Cup Tournament Director Stephen Farrow expects the fierce rivalry between Australia and Great Britain to reignite this summer if they meet again in 2026.

“We’re delighted Alex de Minaur and Maya Joint have committed early for Team Australia at the United Cup,” Farrow said. “Equally, to see British No. 1s in Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu line up for the first time will bring new star power to the tournament.

“In 2025, Team Great Britain reached the quarter-finals after navigating a tightly contested group stage in Sydney. They opened with a strong 2-1 win over Argentina and, despite a narrow loss to Australia in their final group tie, advanced on set percentage in a three-way tie to top Group F and book their spot in the knockout rounds.

“With the level of talent and intensity we saw last year, fans can expect even more drama and world-class tennis this summer. Don’t miss the action, it’s shaping up to be one of the most exciting United Cups yet,” Farrow added.

The tournament’s official draw will take place on Monday 17 November.

Quarter-finals, semi-finals and final tickets are on sale now. Group stage tickets will go on sale on Wednesday 19 November.

United Cup Format and Qualification

• The fourth edition of United Cup will be held from Friday 2 January to Sunday 11 January 2026
• The group stage in Perth (RAC Arena) runs from Friday 2 January to Tuesday 6 January. The quarter-finals in Perth will be held on Wednesday 7 January
• The group stage in Sydney (Ken Rosewall Arena) runs from Saturday 3 January to Wednesday 7 January. The quarter-finals in Sydney will be held across Thursday 8 and Friday 9 January
• Sydney will host two semi-finals on Saturday 10 January followed by the final of the United Cup from 5.30pm on Sunday 11 January
• Teams travelling from Perth to Sydney have a travel day and rest day before their semi-final matches
• Participation is subject to players committing to the event by the tournament’s entry deadline of 11 November
• At the entry deadline, ten countries will qualify for the United Cup via the five highest-ranked men and five highest-ranked women entered, based on their PIF ATP and WTA rankings
• Eight teams will qualify according to the best combined ranking of the highest-ranked men’s and women’s players from the same country
• At the second qualification date on 17 November, if there is a player in the Top 10 (maximum 1 ATP and 1 WTA player) of the latest PIF ATP or WTA rankings who has entered and has an eligible team but has not been accepted based on their individual ATP/WTA ranking, they will be accepted, and their team will replace the lowest-ranked team with combined ranking
• Australia is guaranteed entry, either directly via ranking or as a wild card
• Each city will host nine teams each — three groups of three countries, competing in a round robin format
• Each tie will comprise one men’s singles and one women’s singles match featuring the No.1 ranked singles players, and one mixed doubles match
• Singles matches are best of three tie-break sets. Mixed doubles matches are two tie-break sets with a deciding Match Tie-break (10 point) at one set all
• Group winners in each city advance to the quarter-finals, with one quarter-final spot in each city awarded to the best runner-up in that city
• Winners will progress to the semi-finals and final to be played in Sydney

Tickets (on sale now)

• Tickets for the United Cup quarter-finals, semi-finals and final in Sydney are on sale now via Ticketmaster with tickets from $50
• Tickets for the United Cup quarter-finals in Perth are on sale now via Ticketek with tickets from $43
• Tickets to the United Cup group stages go on sale on Wednesday 19 November. Sydney group stage tickets from $40, Perth group stage tickets from $43

For more information, visit UnitedCup.com and follow @UnitedCupTennis on social media.

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Sioux Falls champ Kypson's hard commit: Adding aggression to a game built on clay

Patrick Kypson grew up playing tennis on clay courts in North Carolina, a unique education for an American player, but one that has paid dividends throughout his career. His first four professional singles titles all came on the natural surface, as did his lone pro doubles trophy — a Futures title he won with Felix Auger-Aliassime in 2016.

But it was on a hard court that he won the biggest title of his career this Sunday, two days before his 26th birthday. In a thrilling final at the MarketBeat Open, an ATP Challenger 100 and USTA Pro Circuit event in Sioux Falls, Kypson earned a 6-7(2), 7-6(4), 7-5 victory against Johannus Monday, saving all six break points he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

The trophy is his third on the ATP Challenger Tour this season and his sixth since the start of 2023. It was also a record 20th Challenger title won by an American this season, breaking the previous high of 19 in 2006.

The triumph moved Kypson up to world No. 146, 13 spots off his career-high PIF ATP Ranking from last April, and lifted him into first place in the USTA’s Australian Open Wild Card Challenge.

By committing to an attacking game plan, Kypson has developed a game that can threaten opponents on any surface.

“My tennis, I just want to continue to try and build my game around being aggressive and looking to get forward as much as I can and just continue to develop those skills in matches,” he said. “I’ve made a huge decision or commitment to playing a certain way and just trying to hold onto that, my identity as a player, and just judge myself on how well I’m executing on that each day, each practice and each match.”

While Kypson credits his clay-court upbringing with teaching him point construction, rally tolerance and movement, he has made a conscious effort to impose his tennis on opponents this season.

“I think [growing up on clay] kind of contributed to my original game style, which actually is kind of what I’m trying to transition out of and be a little bit more aggressive and come forward more,” he explained. “But it definitely gives me a really good base from the baseline with what I would like to think pretty good movement and fundamentals, so I think it was definitely a positive growing up on the clay for sure.”

Another big part of Kypson’s education — both on the court and in the classroom — came in his year at Texas A&M, where he was an All-American and the ITA National Rookie of the Year in 2018. At College Station, he roomed with current Top 30 player Arthur Rinderknech and was also teammates with Valentin Vacherot.

Those two players, who happen to be cousins, recently squared off in the Rolex Shanghai Masters final, with Vacherot stunning the tennis world—and their group chat of former A&M teammates—by winning the title with a ranking of No. 204. For Kypson, Vacherot’s success is further proof of just how high the level is on the ATP Challenger Tour and the USTA Pro Circuit.

“I think the margins are as slim as they’ve ever been, in terms of level differential between consistent Challenger players and consistent tour-level players. But definitely, you know, those guys [on the ATP Tour] are able to do it slightly more consistently I would say. There’s a reason they’re on the tour and Challenger guys are in the Challenger level. I think it’s slim margins, but that consistency is one of the things I think is the differential.

“There’s so many examples,” he continued, discussing the success of Challenger players at the next level. “[Vacherot] was obviously an extreme example of a guy that has been primarily on the Challenger Tour and goes and wins a Masters 1000… but for sure seeing guys that I’ve competed with for a long time, seeing them have some runs definitely can motivate me to get up there with them and keep improving.”

With a focus on attacking and an emphasis on competing hard every point, Kypson feels his game is more complete than ever, with a Top 100 breakthrough in sight.

“I think I’ve developed my skills more so than when I was at my career high,” he said. “I know what I have to improve on and what I’m doing well, so I’m just trying to keep doubling down on those things and, you know, with that the ranking and the points take care of itself as much as it can, which is obviously easier said than done. But that’s my goal.”

Editor’s Note: This story originally ran on USTA.com.

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Defending finalist Fritz qualifies for the Nitto ATP Finals

Taylor Fritz will return to the Nitto ATP Finals one year after reaching the championship match at the season finale.

The American qualified for the year-end championships on Wednesday when Lorenzo Musetti fell at the Rolex Paris Masters. Fritz joins Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic in the field. 

Last year, Fritz defeated former champions Daniil Medvedev and Zverev en route to the final before Sinner beat him for the trophy. This will be the 27-year-old’s third appearance in the Nitto ATP Finals, where he has advanced through round-robin action in his first two showings.

Fritz made a good start to his season at the United Cup, where he led the United States to the trophy, and he has not looked back. The 10-time ATP Tour titlist lifted trophies in Stuttgart in Eastbourme, making this the fourth consecutive year in which he has claimed multiple titles.

Fritz also made the semi-finals at Wimbledon for the first time and later reached the Tokyo final. Other standout results include his semi-final runs in Miami and Toronto. 

Three singles spots remain at the Nitto ATP Finals, which will take place at Inalpi Arena in Turin from 9-16 November. Ben Shelton is currently sixth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, with Alex de Minaur seventh and Musetti in eighth. Ninth-placed Felix Auger-Aliassime trails Musetti by 390 points.

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Vacherot beats cousin again after Shanghai triumph

Valentin Vacherot comes from behind to defeat his cousin Arthur Rinderknech for the second time in the space of three weeks at the Paris Masters.

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Sinner begins bid to retake World No. 1 with silky Paris win

A different European city, a different indoor arena, but a very familiar march to victory for Jannik Sinner.

Just four days after he lifted an ATP 500 crown in Vienna, the No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings kick-started his Rolex Paris Masters title bid with a commanding 6-4, 6-2 triumph against Zizou Bergs. Sinner produced a typically assured all-around performance to overwhelm his Belgian opponent in the pair’s maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting and extend his tour-level winning streak on indoor hard courts to 22 matches.

The Streak Continues! 👏@janniksin extends his winning streak to 22 matches on indoor hard courts with a straight sets win over Bergs in Paris#RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/4ArpltcFrK

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 29, 2025

The signs of struggle for Bergs were evident early at La Défense Arena, where he fended off four break points but was still unable to deny Sinner a break of serve in a 12-minute opening game. That was enough to set the Italian on his way to the first set and another break in the first game of the second set also proved decisive.

The second-seeded Sinner was authoritative behind his own serve throughout the match. He did not face a break point and won 77 per cent (24/31) of points behind his first delivery, according to Infosys ATP Stats, en route to setting a third-round meeting with Francisco Cerundolo. The Argentine earlier overcame Miomir Kecmanovic 7-5, 1-6, 7-6(4).

With his 88-minute win against Bergs, Sinner kept alive his hopes of capitalising on Carlos Alcaraz’s early Paris loss in the battle for World No. 1: The Italian can return to top spot next Monday if he can lift his first Masters 1000 title of the season.

“I felt like mostly the movement [was good],” said Sinner. “It’s a very unique court here. Usually I always struggled a bit, so I’m very happy to come through the first match. I’m very happy how I served today. I was very precise, and I also started off with a break straight away, which gives you a bit more confidence. I’m very happy about today’s performance.”

Sinner’s straightforward victory was in stark contrast to the opening match of the day on Court Central. In a rematch of the Rolex Shanghai Masters final from earlier this month, Valentin Vacherot again overcame his cousin Arthur Rinderknech in a three-set battle to extend his Masters 1000 winning streak to nine matches.

“Arthur plays very well right now. It wasn’t easy from beginning to the end,” said Vacherot, who is up three spots to No. 37 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings after reaching the third round on his Paris debut. “[It was not easy]. I had a lot of errors as well today. Not everything was perfect.

“Had I won in straight sets 6-1, 6-2, it would have been a different story but it’s not the case. But I have a lot of confidence in myself, that’s for sure.”

Watch Highlights Of Vacherot & Rinderknech’s Paris Rematch

Vacherot will take on Alcaraz’s conqueror, Cameron Norrie for a quarter-final berth in Paris. Daniil Medvedev also advanced on Wednesday after his second-round opponent, Grigor Dimitrov, was forced to withdraw before their match due to a right shoulder injury.

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Auger-Aliassime rallies in Paris, keeps Turin hopes alive

The 2025 Nitto ATP Finals remain on Felix Auger-Aliassime’s radar, but only just.

With his hopes of reaching the prestigious season finale hanging by a thread on Wednesday at the Rolex Paris Masters, the Canadian rallied to a nail-biting 5-7, 7-6(5), 7-6(4) win against Alexandre Muller to stay in the Turin hunt.

Watch Auger-Aliassime’s Magic Moment To Kick-start Paris Comeback:

Auger-Aliassime stepped on court at Paris’ La Défense Arena knowing that a second-round exit to home favourite Muller at the indoor ATP Masters 1000 would end his hopes of a top-eight finish in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin. The ninth seed soon found himself a set and a break down, but he was able to hold on for a crucial victory despite delivering a wildly inconsistent display overall.

The 25-year-old Auger-Aliassime fired 50 winners, including 21 aces, but his efforts were undermined by his 55 unforced errors. In contrast, Muller struck 20 winners and made just 24 unforced errors, but the World No. 44 was unable to find a path to victory after letting slip a 2-0, 40/30 lead in the second set.

Auger-Aliassime missed a match point on return at 6-5, 30/40 in the deciding set but later won seven of the final eight points of the match to recover from 0/3 in the deciding-set tie-break and seal his three-hour, five-minute triumph. With his Tour-leading 80th indoor win this decade, the Canadian moved within 390 points of eight-placed Lorenzo Musetti in the Live Race.

Auger-Aliassime will next aim to maintain the pressure on Italy’s Musetti when he takes on Daniel Altmaier in the third round. Altmaier earlier ended the Nitto ATP Finals qualification hopes of 11th-placed Casper Ruud with a 6-3, 7-5 upset.

Defending champion Alexander Zverev was also forced to dig deep to book his third-round spot. The German rallied past Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-7(5), 6-1, 7-5 to extend his Rolex Paris Masters winning streak to six matches and improve to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with the Argentine.

Watch Highlights Of Zverev’s Hard-earned Paris Win

“Definitely [a good win],” said Zverev, who was competing just four days after his Vienna championship-match defeat to Jannik Sinner, in his post-match interview. “Especially after a tough [loss] last week. To come out here, and I didn’t expect him to play the way he did, to be perfectly honest.

“It’s something I have to learn from. I played him in Rome, and he was nowhere near that level. That’s a mistake from me. I have to prepare better for my opponents, but he was fantastic today.”

Zverev leapfrogged Novak Djokovic into third in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin as a result of his two-hour, 36-minute triumph against Ugo Carabelli. Already qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals, he will next take on 15th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who downed home wild card Arthur Cazaux 7-6(5), 6-4, in the French capital.

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The Handover: Puppets pull the strings on ATP Tour

It all started as a simple idea. Alex de Minaur, Taylor Fritz and Lorenzo Musetti had been grinding through the ATP Tour season, chasing PIF ATP Rankings points, trophies and sleep in equal measure.

Somewhere between a training block and a long-haul flight, a thought struck De Minaur: what if someone else could handle press conferences, photoshoots and fan content — so we could stay focused on the tennis?

Enter: the puppets.

#TheHandover: How it all started… 

At first, the plan seemed foolproof. The handmade doubles of the trio — complete with miniature racquets, finely stitched hair, and a surprising amount of attitude — were brought to lighten the load. The players could train; the puppets could perform. Simple. Effective. Genius, even.

It all began at the Rolex Paris Masters. But as the cameras rolled, something unexpected happened. The puppets weren’t content to be background characters. They started improvising, talking back, and they were so realistic that they started stealing the spotlight.

_{^{The puppets meet in Paris. Photo: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour}}

Still, in classic ATP Tour fashion, everyone’s taking it in stride.

The Handover has become the latest must-watch social series. Stay tuned on the ATP Tour’s Instagram account to find out who is really running the show.

The puppets aren’t saying much, though they’ll see you on Tour.

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Dimtirov withdraws ahead of Medvedev clash in Paris

Grigor Dimitrov’s return to action this week at the Rolex Paris Masters was sweet, but sadly cut short when he withdrew from his second-round clash with Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday afternoon.

The 34-year-old Bulgarian, who was sidelined for three months due to a pectoral injury, made a winning return on Monday against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. But, ahead of his 12th Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Medvedev (8-3 Medvedev), Dimitrov withdrew due to a shoulder injury.

In the fourth round at Wimbledon in July, Dimitrov led then-World No. 1 Jannik Sinner by two sets to love when he felt a sudden pain in his pectoral muscle and was forced to retire. It marked his fifth consecutive exit at a major through retirement.

The former No. 3 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Dimitrov spent three months on the sidelines before his long-awaited return to Paris, where he reached the final in 2023. On Tuesday evening, he accompanied Nicolas Mahut on the doubles court in the Frenchman’s final match of his career.

However, Dimitrov was unable to return to singles action on Wednesday. Instead the match between Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Arthur Cazaux has been upgraded from Court 2 to Court 1.

Into the third round in Paris for the first time since reaching the final in 2021, Medvedev will next face Lorenzo Musetti or Lorenzo Sonego.

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Fritz takes important step towards Turin with opening win in Paris

Taylor Fritz stayed ahead of the chasing pack of Nitto ATP Finals contenders at the Rolex Paris Masters Tuesday with a 7-6(4), 6-2 win over Australian Aleksandar Vukic.

With fellow Turin contenders Ben Shelton, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Daniil Medvedev also all claiming wins Tuesday, Fritz ensured that he remained next in line to qualify at fifth in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin.

The fourth-seeded American, who fell to Jannik Sinner in the title match of the season finale last year, claimed his 52nd win of the season after firing 12 aces and clubbing 10 forehand winners.

“It was a tough match,” Fritz said. “I thought that he served really well in the first set. I looked at the percentage after the set. I was curious. It was 72 per cent. But that was after the tie-break. He missed, I think, three first serves in the tie-break or so up until that.

“He was probably serving 80 per cent first serves, hitting spots on it. He’s got a great first serve. So, I did well to just keep holding serve and play a good tie-break, and then I found the breaks in the second set.”

The 2024 US Open finalist awaits the winner of 13th seed Alexander Bublik and Frenchman Corentin Moutet in the third round.

“Either way, it’s gonna be a very tricky match,” Fritz said. “Both of them do a lot of shots that make you uncomfortable, I’d say, especially Moutet, but Bublik as well, the drop shots, both of them. It’s a lot of craziness going on. So, I have to be very mentally ready for that match.”

[NEWSLETTER FORM]

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How Sinner is close to doing what never has been done before

Jannik Sinner is closing on history.

The Italian might be on the back foot in the battle for ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours. But according to an Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis, the World No. 2 has a chance to rewrite the record books in another way.

The 24-year-old currently leads the ATP Tour in both service games won and return games won. Since 1991, when the ATP began tracking such statistics, no player has topped both categories in the same season.

Service Games Won (entering Paris)

Entering the Rolex Paris Masters, Sinner has won 91.5 per cent of his service games for the season. No other player has held more than 89.3 per cent of their service games. Second on the list is Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (89.3%), followed by Taylor Fritz (89.3%), Reilly Opelka (89%) and Novak Djokovic (88.5%).

Nobody else in the Top 5 of the service games won leaderboard also features in the Top 5 of the return games won chart. Sinner leads the way having won 32.7 per cent of his return games.

Return Games Won (entering Paris)

Sinner’s great rival, World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, is just two-hundredths of a percentage behind in second place. Alex de Minaur is well behind in third (30.1%), followed by Sebastian Baez (28.7%) and Francisco Cerundolo (28.7%).

One year ago, Sinner became the first Italian to claim ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours. In 2025, he has actually won a higher rate of service games won (91.5% to 91.4%) and return games won (32.7% to 28.3%) compared to 2024.

Sinner has taken a big step forward in his return game. Before this season, he had never broken more than 29.2 per cent of the time, which he did in 2023.

The performance has helped him remain in the hunt for year-end No. 1 with less than a month remaining in the season. Sinner’s hopes have increased after Alcaraz’s second-round loss in Paris.

Alcaraz entered Paris sixth in service games won (87.5%) and second in return games won (32.7%).

Sinner begins his Rolex Paris Masters on Wednesday against Zizou Bergs.

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