Airdate: United Cup

Nine’s summer of tennis begins with the United Cup on December 29, with play in both Sydney & Perth across Nine and 9GEM.

James Bracey, Roz Kelly and Emma Lawrence host with commentary from Casey Dellacqua, Sam Smith, Mark Philippoussis and Wally Masur for Sydney, plus Jim Courier, Jelena Dokic and Todd Woodbridge commentary for Perth.

Wide World of Sports tennis expert, Jelena Dokic, said: “There is no event that combines men’s and women’s tennis like the United Cup. Being the first major tournament of the summer, it’s alway exciting and the mixed format gives us lots of different scenarios that we don’t get in the season.

“The players love this format because you play for your country and your team. They sit on the side of the court with their teammates and it brings communication between them into the game.

“One other thing I like is that the top players don’t usually play doubles because of their busy schedules during tournaments, but here they have to for their nation to progress. This means we may see world number ones against each other, like Djokovic playing Świątek.

“The ties will come down to the mixed games, which will be incredible to watch. That’s what I‘m looking forward to the most and the fans and commentators will love it. You won’t see these games anywhere else in the world.”

Unifying men’s and women’s play, this mixed-teams event will consist of one men’s singles match, one women’s singles match, and a mixed doubles match in each tie.

In 18 competing nations, the best players in the world will descend on Sydney and Perth for the tournament to begin their Australian Open preparation, with $10 million in prizemoney on the line.

Perth will host the men’s and women’s world No.1 players, Novak Djokovic (Serbia) and Iga Swiatek (Poland), and big-name Americans Taylor Fritz and Jess Pegula. The Aussie charge will feature Alja Tomljanovic, Storm Hunter, Alex de Minaur and John Millman.

In Sydney, Greece duo Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari will headline alongside France’s Caroline Garcia, Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, plus Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber. The finals for both sides of the draw will be played in the harbour city.