Canada returns to United Cup in 2026

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Through the various incarnations of the ATP Cup / United Cup, Félix Auger-Aliassime has pretty much been a constant with a rotating cast around him.

For the 2026 edition, he’ll have rising young Canadian Victoria Mboko as his co-pilot.

Tennis Australia released a preliminary list of those competing in this team competition. It’s one for which the format, quality of cast and interest have varied over the years; at first, it was a men-only event, which Canada won in 2022. But it’s also an event where the top players who take part are guaranteed a certain number of matches against good opposition, and can ease into the new season without the same type of tournament pressure.

This year, only five of the men’s top 10 and four of the women’s top 10 have committed.

There are 18 teams in all, so that top talent is spread a bit thin.

(Frankly, that’s just too many teams; so few of the nations are strong both on the men’s and women’s sides: the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Poland, Italy and Greece – although Tsitsipas and Sakkari, one a glamour team, have struggled – can boast that).

Format unchanged

The teams can have as many as six players. So a lot of players are along for the ride as the No. 1s on each team are mandated to play all the singles matches, barring injury.

That also ensures that the second-highest ranked player in a country will often not enter, because they’d obviously rather play a “regular” tuneup tournament than sit on the bench all week.

And if the outcome of a tie is decided, you … get what you get in the dead rubber mixed doubles. And – as was the case with Auger-Aliassime with a wonky knee at the 2024 edition – you get Stefanos Tsitsipas vs … Steven Diez.

Every team but Japan (four) and China and Norway (five) has a full roster of six. There are appearance fees keyed to ranking. So even a lower-ranked player will still get a nice cheque to help them get through the season.

The format is men’s singles, women’s singles, and mixed doubles.

Here are the preliminary pairings for this year’s tournament, which runs from Jan. 2 – 11, 2026. The draws for the various pools and locations will be on Monday.

Canada is the No. 2 seeded team.

[1] Team USA 
[2] Team Canada 
[3] Team Italy 
[4] Team Australia  
[5] Team Great Britain 
[6] Team Germany  

Hubie returns!

A happy return in Australia for Hubert Hurkacz, who teamed up with Iga Swiatek a year ago and is scheduled to do so again.

He hasn’t played since withdrawing before his second-round match in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, on grass before Wimbledon earlier this year. He had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in early July, more of a cleanup in the wake of tearing the meniscus in the same knee on grass the year before, at Wimbledon. He returned – probably too quickly – in Montreal, and struggled a fair bit after that.

Stan the MAN!

In other great news that will please the Aussie fans, 40-year-old Stan Wawrinka returns to the United Cup, which he played back in 2023.

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Wawrinka has played wherever he can the last year or so, at ATP events if he gets a wild card and at Challengers when he can’t. He qualifies because his teammate, Belinda Bencic, is at the top of the game. Also, kind of shockingly, he’s currently the top-ranked Swiss man.

Here are the preliminary team rosters

USA (Defending champions)

Taylor Fritz and Coco Gauff

Team: Mackenzie McDonald, Varvara Lepchenko, Christian Harrison, Nicole Melichar-Martinez

Canada

Félix Auger-Aliassime and Victoria Mboko

Team: Alexis Galarneau, Kayla Cross, Cleeve Harper, Gabriela Dabrowski

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Italy

Flavio Cobolli and Jasmine Paolini

Team: Andrea Pellegrino, Nuria Brancaccio, Andrea Vavassori, Sara Errani

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Australia

Alex de Minaur and Maya Joint

Team: Jason Kubler, Maddison Inglis, John-Patrick Smith, Storm Hunter

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Great Britain

Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu

Team: Billy Harris, Mingge Xu, Lloyd Glasspool, Olivia Nicholls

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Germany

Alexander Zverev and Eva Lys

Team: Patrick Zahraj, Laura Siegemund, Kevin Krawietz, Mina Hodzic

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Belgium

Zizou Bergs and Elise Mertens

Team: Kimmer Coppejans, Greet Mnnen, Sander Gille, Lara Salden

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France

Arthur Rinderknech and Lois Boisson

Team: Geoffrey Blancaneaux, Léolia Jeanjean, Edouard Roger-Vasselin, Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah

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Poland

Hubert Hurkacz and Iga Swiatek

Team: Daniel Michalski, Katarzyna Kawa, Jan Zielinski, Katarzyna Piter

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Spain

Jaume Munar and Jessica Bouzas Maneiro

Team: Carlos Taberner, Andrea Lazaro Garcia, Iñigo Cervantes, Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers

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Czechia

Jakub Mensik and Barbora Krejcikova

Team: Dalibor Srvcina, Linda Fruhvirtova, Adam Pavlasek, Miriam Skoch

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Greece

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari

Team: Stefanos Sakellaridis, Despina Papamichael, Petros Tsitsipas, Sapfo Sakellaridi

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Japan

Shintaro Mochizuki and Naomi Osaka

Team: Yasutaka Uchiyama, Nao Hibino

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Argentina

Sebastian Baez and Solana Sierra

Team: Marco Trungellitti, Maria Lourdes Carlé, Guido Andreozzi, Nicole Fossa Huergo

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Netherlands

Tallon Griekspoor and Suzan Lamens

Team: Guy Den Ouden, Eva Vedder, David Pel, Demi Schuurs

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Switzerland

Stan Wawrinka and Belinda Bencic

Team: Jakub Paul, Céline Naef, Luca Castelnuovo, Naima Karamoko

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Norway

Casper Ruud and Malene Helgo

Team: Victor Durasovic, Asrid Brune Olsen, Ulrikke Eikeri

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China

Zhizhen Zhang and Zhu Lin

Team: Rigele Te, Xiaodi Xu, Aoron Wang

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