United Cup tournament director Stephen Farrow reveals he is doing his best to lure Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic to represent their nations at the team event scheduled to take place between January 02-11.
While Spain is a regular participant in the United Cup, Alcaraz hasn't yet taken part in it. In 2023, the current top-ranked male tennis player skipped the Australian swing due to an injury, while he had opted only to compete at the Australian Open in the last two years.
When it comes to Sinner, he elected to start his 2023 season by competing at the Adelaide International. In 2024, the Italian tennis star used the Kooyong exhibition as his preparation for the Australian Open. This year, the world No. 2 didn't play any matches leading up to the opening Grand Slam of the year.
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Meanwhile, Djokovic has had one United Cup appearance. Last year, the record 24-time Grand Slam champion went 2-1 in singles and 2-0 with Olga Danilovic in mixed doubles before they lost to Australia in the quarterfinal. This year, the 38-year-old kicked off his year at the Brisbane International.
United Cup TD: It's an ongoing conversation with Alcaraz, Sinner and Djokovic
Its an ongoing conversation at the minute. We want all the best players in the world to play. We would love Jannik and Carlos and of course Novak to come back. When Novak played here two years ago in Perth, it was so memorable, particularly when he played on that New Years Eve and then counted down to New Year with the crowd afterwards," Farrow told The West Australian.
One thing is for sure; we know were going to get a lot of top players playing, and weve consistently shown that throughout the history of the competition. We know there are plenty of other top players who are going to play that were not quite ready to announce just yet.
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It will be interesting to see if the United Cup organizers manage to fulfill their target and lure the three biggest names of men's tennis to their event.
