Is another tennis tournament needed for happiness? We’ve been hearing about an overloaded calendar for years. But it seems that the United Cup is an option worth keeping for longer. And this should be of particular importance to Poland, because this event perfectly allows you to use the current well-being on the international arena.
Agnieszka Radwańska as a link between the Hopman Cup and the United Cup
Yes, tennis is about individual performance. We mainly remember the winners of the Grand Slam singles competitions, the winners of the most prestigious WTA and ATP singles events and the leaders of the world ranking. But team competition has its own charm and a long history. Of course, we are talking about the men’s Davis Cup and the women’s Billie Jean King Cup, although in recent years the change in the format of these competitions and the wrong timing have somewhat weakened their prestige.
Polish tennis in the team game has so far triumphed in the Hopman Cup. The unofficial world champions of mixed pairs in 2015 were Agnieszka Radwańska and Jerzy Janowicz. The competition – held from 1989 to 2019 at the start of the season in Australia – is due to be brought back to life in Nice this summer. At the beginning of January, the men’s ATP Cup was last played. Now, for the first time, a men’s tournament organization has joined forces with the WTA, resulting in the debut edition of the United Cup.
Compared to the Hopman Cup, the new event gives a much broader picture of the potential of tennis in a given country. Each time the top two singles performers, and still other players can play a mixed double. In the case of Biało-Czerwoni, the link between these two tournaments is Agnieszka Radwańska. Now – together with her husband Dawid Celt – she is the captain.
Leaders do their thing in singles and excel in mixed. “It’s better to win as a team”
When the format of the United Cup games was announced, a wide smile appeared on the faces of many Polish fans. Because if in one team you can put together the undisputed heroine of the last season Iga Świątek and Hubert Hurkacz, who made his debut in the Top10 more than a year ago, it’s hard not to be happy. And this joy continues, in the three matches played so far both have done their job, although they sometimes had worse moments. This did not prevent Świątek from winning all singles matches, and Hurkacz defeated m.in. the famous Stan Wawrinka, and after a three-set duel he lost to the very dangerous Matteo Berrettini (16th ATP).
The Polish duo presented themselves twice in the mixed doubles. And with great effect. On Wednesday, he secured a 3-2 win over Italy to advance to the Final Four. Świątek and Hurkacz did not have the opportunity to play together before this tournament, but in Brisbane it was obvious that they found a common language on the court. A very good game, with some great moves, was accompanied by a very good mood. And he gave himself to all the members of the team, who support each other and – in their free time – make them laugh. So you don’t have to worry about the atmosphere at the white-and-reds.
– It’s an amazing feeling. I think it’s better to win as a team, even if we usually compete individually – admitted the happy Świątek just after Wednesday’s promotion to the Final Four.
Linette is a silent hero. Polish team weakened before the start of the tournament
In both group matches Magda Linette provided the team with a point for the victory. Poland’s second racket in women’s tennis has so far grown into a silent hero. While the smooth victory of the 48th in the WTA ranking of the player over the 464th in the list of Żibek Kułambajewa from Kazakhstan was no surprise, the triumph over the Swiss Jil Teichmann (35th WTA) and the spectacular win with the Italian Lucia Bronzetti (54th) deserved praise. Linette continues the great streak from the end of last season. Then, in the group stage of the final tournament of the Billie Jean King Cup, she was better than such recognized companies as American Madison Keys or Czech Karolina Pliskova.
Being aware of the potential of the Polish team, it was mentioned among the favorites from the very beginning. So far, it is doing very well in this role. The absence of Kamil Majchrzak makes the task a bit more difficult for her. The player, who is ranked 77th in the ATP ranking, has shown many times that he can also threaten much higher ranked rivals. However, he had to resign from participating in the United Cup – he has been temporarily suspended for a month due to the positive result of four doping tests.
Majchrzak was replaced by Kacper Żuk (245th ATP). Although he is slightly higher than Daniel Michalski, the latter has so far appeared in the duels of the second rackets. He is just gaining his first competitive experience at this level and is learning a painful but valuable lesson.
Semi-final clash with the American Dream Team. Matkowski an optimist
Another duel with a rival from the world’s top 260 among Michalski’s tennis players awaits on Friday. Then the two-day semi-finals will begin in Sydney. The Poles will face a very serious test, as they will face the US team. And this one has characters like Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys, Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe. However, there is no shortage of voices full of optimism in the country. And professional voices, with Marcin Matkowski at the forefront.
– If you are ranked number 1 in women and number 10 among men, if you have Magda Linette, who wins with higher-ranked players, then you can win the entire United Cup. It is a pity that Kamil Majchrzak has doping problems and does not play. But Poland is already in the fourth place and I hope that this is not the end – emphasizes the titled former doubles player in an interview with Sport.pl.
And the big names in the first edition of the United Cup were in each of the 18 teams. Ranking points and very attractive financial bonuses were the magnet. It is also a great test of form before the Australian Open Grand Slam. The list of participants included Spaniards Paula Bados and Rafael Nadal, Greeks Maria Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas, the aforementioned Americans and Swiss with Wawrinka and Belinda Bencic and the French Caroline Garcia, Alize Cornet and Adrian Mannarino. You can then brag about the triumph in the competition with such a cast.
Source: Sport
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
