The triumphant announcement of a mixed-teams event across Australia to launch the next summer of tennis stems from a crisis of conscience three years ago. Billed as a world first “showcasing equality at the highest level of the sport”, the United Cup will feature the world’s best men and women and is a positive step forward for tennis.
Three years in the making, the 18-team, $23m event promises to be a celebration of tennis at its best to whet the appetite leading into the Australian Open at Melbourne Park. Bar for the onset of Covid-19, it is a competition that would have started a year ago at the latest, and with good reason given the controversy that unfolded in Brisbane in January, 2020.
