American Top 5 stars Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz have wasted little time getting down to business at the United Cup.
Just a few hours after touching down at Perth Airport, the top seeds practised together at RAC Arena, no doubt thankful for a welcome breeze and pleasant conditions that were many degrees cooler than Monday’s 42 degree temperatures that scorched the city.
Both players are looking to bring their hot late-year form into the new season. Gauff won the WTA Finals in Riyadh; Fritz finished runner-up at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin to finish the year at a career-high World No. 4. in the PIF ATP Rankings.
Fritz was a member of the United States’ championship team at the inaugural United Cup in 2023, which was played under a different format that featured two men’s singles, two women’s singles and a mixed doubles. Last year the format changed to one men’s singles, one women’s singles and a mixed doubles.
“I'm looking forward to it,” Fritz said of the tournament, which begins 27 December. “[The format] has changed a bit over the years; the year that we won, we could use our team's depth a lot more to help us. Now a lot more things can go wrong for the favourite team when it's just one [singles] match each and a deciding mixed doubles. So I'm still excited to play. I'm glad that Coco's here this year.”
Gauff, who starts the year as World No. 3, said: “We're both coming off a good year-end. And it'll be our second time playing together. So hopefully, we can do even better than the Olympics.”
The United States spearheads Group A and will wait until Day 3 on Sunday for its opening match, a blockbuster against Canada that will pit Fritz against Felix Auger-Aliassime and Gauff against former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez. The U.S. will play its second group match against Croatia on Day 5, 31 December.
