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It’s already Tuesday in Australia. And so in just three days, the 2026 tennis season will begin with the first round-robin matches at the United Cup in Perth.
It’s not exactly Alcaraz-Sinner, but still: Jaume Munar of Spain will play Sebastian Baez of Argentine, beginning at 9 p.m. ET Thursday night.
The night session there will feature the Tsitsipas-Sakkari duo for Greece, with Maria Sakkari kicking it off against Naomi Osaka, followed by Stefanos Tsitsipas playing Shintaro Mochizuki.
The qualifying will also start in Brisbane and Auckland.
On Saturday, the United Cup will have Belgium vs. China and Australia vs. Norway in Sydney, with France playing Switzerland and the Americans facing Argentina in Perth.
The players have already begun arriving at the various venues.
Here are some of the airport greetings (rights-free footage from Tennis Australia).
ATP in Brisbane and Hong Kong
Lorenzo Musetti, Alexander Bublik Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov and Arthur Fils will be among those playing in Hong Kong.
So will Canadian Gabriel Diallo, who will also team up for doubles with local hero Coleman Wong.
The qualifying there will start on Sunday, with the main draw beginning Monday.
In Brisbane the men, with an ATP 250 designation, will have Daniil Medvedev and Grigor Dimitrov (for the 10th time),Tommy Paul, Joao Fonseca and Jiri Lehecka. Also Nick Kyrgios (health permitting, after he looked pretty ragged in the match against Aryna Sabalenka on Sunday. Hope he’s all right).
WTA in Auckland and Brisbane
The women’s field in Brisbane is ludicrous, with the event at the 500 level – top-10s including Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula and Amanda Anisimova (and plenty more in the top 20).
Also back, in Brisbane, is former No. 1 Karolina Pliskova.
On the Canadian side is Leylah Fernandez.
In Auckland, NZ, Cana-Kiwi Erin Routliffe, after several highly successful years with Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski, debuts her new doubles partnership with bestie Asia Muhammad, an American.
Ther are some younger, talented players on the comeup in the Auckland field including Alexandra Eala, Iva Jovic and Janice Tjen. And some solid, esetablished stars like Elina Svitolina and Emma Navarro.
