The ATP Tour announced today a new partnership with PacificPine Sports (PPS) to create a range of world-class ATP-licensed tennis centres in China and Hong Kong.

The multi-year partnership, which begins in 2023, is an exciting opportunity for the ATP to engage with junior tennis players and young fans locally, expand opportunities in the sport, and for ATP Coach members to share their expert knowledge with players in a fast-growing region.

“We are thrilled to partner with PacificPine Sports to accelerate opportunities and share our expertise in Asia,” said Daniele Sano, ATP Tour Chief Business Officer. “This partnership will allow us to connect with aspiring players and passionate fans in an important market.”

The centres, which will be run by PPS, will offer members and local staff access to ATP Coaches, Alumni and Medical Services Team. PPS will have rights to use ATP Tour brand marks in promotional, advertising and marketing materials.

Daniele Sano, ATP Tour Chief Business Officer with Raymond Roessel, Founder & Co-CEO at PacificPine Sports Group.

The new partnership follows several successful collaborations between PPS and major global sports brands in the region, including the PGA of America and AC Milan. It builds on several decades of tennis development by ATP in the region.

“We are excited to work with the ATP Tour to bring world-class tennis experiences to China and Hong Kong,” said Raymond Roessel, Co-CEO of PPS. “We believe that this partnership will not only benefit our partner facilities, but also the ATP’s members and the wider tennis community and help continue to develop the sport in the region.”

About The ATP
As the global governing body of men’s professional tennis, the ATP’s mission is to serve tennis. We entertain a billion global fans, showcase the world’s greatest players at the most prestigious tournaments, and inspire the next generation of fans and players. From the United Cup in Australia, to Europe, the Americas and Asia, the stars of the game battle for titles and Pepperstone ATP Rankings points at ATP Masters 1000, 500 and 250 events, and Grand Slams. All roads lead towards the Nitto ATP Finals, the prestigious season finale held in Turin, Italy. Featuring only the world’s top 8 qualified singles players and doubles teams, the tournament also sees the official crowning of the year-end ATP World No. 1, presented by Pepperstone, the ultimate achievement in tennis. For more information, please visit www.ATPTour.com.

About PacificPine Sports
PacificPine Sports (PPS) is a leading sports training and management company in China. PPS has over 12,000 students, operates in 11 cities and offers classes and clinics at over 75 locations across China. PPS operates in four core sports verticals – Tennis in partnership with the ATP, – Golf in partnership with the PGA of America – Football in partnership with AC Milan and Basketball under Five-Star Basketball. PPS is headquartered in Shenzhen and Hong Kong with regional offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu. For more information on our group and services, please visit www.pacificpinesports.com

With just two days to go until the inaugural edition of the United Cup, some of the competition’s biggest names hit the practice courts Tuesday seeking to find their rhythm ahead of their opening matches.

Nick Kyrgios was among the Team Australia stars hitting in Sydney. The 27-year-old will meet Team Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie in Thursday’s evening session on Ken Rosewall Arena in his first singles match in Group D. Kyrgios is part of a strong lineup for the host nation, which also features Ajla Tomljanovic and Alex de Minaur.

View Schedule

Also putting herself through her paces in Sydney was two-time Wimbledon champion and WTA star Petra Kvitova. The 29-time tour-level titlist is part of a Team Czech Republic which takes on third-seeded Team USA in its opening tie in Group C. Kvitova will be supported by fellow WTA star Marie Bouzkova, while the Czechs’ ATP contingent is led by clean-hitting 21-year-old Jiri Lehecka.

_{^{Petra Kvitova took to the practice court on Tuesday in Sydney. Photo Credit: Tennis Australia.}}

Some ATP and WTA stars took the chance to practise with teammates from the opposing Tour on Tuesday. One of them was the No. 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Hubert Hurkacz, who hit with his fellow Team Poland stars Magda Linette and Weronika Falkowsa in Brisbane.

The second-seeded Team Poland, which also features WTA World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, takes on Team Kazakhstan in their opening Group B match across Saturday and Sunday.

_{^{Team Poland’s Weronika Falkowska and Hubert Hurkacz practised together on Tuesday in Brisbane. Photo Credit: Tennis Australia.}}

In Perth, Stefanos Tsitsipas enjoyed a practice session as he prepares to spearhead the top-seeded Team Greece’s title charge alongside the No. 6 in the WTA Rankings, Maria Sakkari. The current No. 4 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Tsitsipas faces Team Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov in his opening singles battle at RAC Arena on Thursday. Sakkari’s opening match follows on Friday, when she meets Viktoriya Tomova in the Group A tie.

Meet The Countries Competing

^{_{Stefanos Tsitsipas practises on Tuesday in Perth. Photo Credit: Tennis Australia.}}

The United Cup will launch the 2023 season on both the ATP Tour and the WTA Tour, with 18 nations competing in six groups across Brisbane, Perth and Sydney. Each tie will comprise of two ATP and two WTA singles matches, and one mixed doubles match.

Will team bonding lead to victory at the United Cup? Team Italy hopes so after exploring Brisbane on Tuesday.

“It’s beautiful to be here and to play a new mixed-teams event,” Matteo Berrettini said. “We’re happy and excited to play, and really looking forward to starting and seeing how the new format goes. It’s going to be exciting as I’ve never even played mixed doubles.”

Berrettini, Marco Bortolotti, Lucia Bronzetti, Lorenzo Musetti, Camila Rosatello, Martina Trevisan, Andrea Vavassori and captain Vincenzo Santopadre visited the New Farm Park River Hub boat dock. They spent some time on a boat and posed for photos with the city’s skyline in the background.

^{Photo Credit: Tennis Australia}
Everyone involved enjoyed the moment before the competition for the inaugural United Cup — and the season on the whole — heats up.

“We really enjoyed the boat today,” Trevisan said. “I’m very excited to be part of this team and we are looking forward to playing.”

Italy will open its tournament on Thursday against Team Brazil. Berrettini believes his team is ready.

“We are pushing each other to get better and better and achieve more,” Berrettini said. “So, when we play a team competition like the United Cup, it feels nice.”

^{Alex de Minaur and Ajla Tomljanovic visit Sydney Harbour.}

^{Alexander Zverev hits on Tuesday in Sydney.}

^{Nick Kyrgios training on Tuesday in Sydney.}

^{Petra Kvitova trains in Sydney.}

^{Team Italy in Brisbane on Tuesday ahead of the United Cup.}

^{Jessica Pegula of Team United States and Harriet Dart of Team Great Britain hit together in Sydney.}

^{Team Australia visits Sydney Harbour.}

Photo Credit: TENNIS AUSTRALIA

Alex de Minaur and Ajla Tomljanovic are among the stars leading Team Australia at the inaugural United Cup this week in Sydney. However, before play begins at the Ken Rosewall Arena on Thursday, the host nation took the opportunity to swap the practice courts for the city when they visited Campbells Cove on Tuesday.

De Minaur, Tomljanovic, Jason Kubler and Zoe Hives shared smiles and jokes before they posed for photos by the Sydney Harbour Bridge ahead of the 11-day event.

“We thrive playing for our country, representing the green and gold,” de Minaur said. “There is always a lot of passion and pride and it is a great time of the year. We are in the Aussie summer, ready to start 2023. There is no better place to be.”

“Aussies thrive in team competitions,” Tomljanovic said. “You see with the Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cup, we made finals and I don’t think many people would have picked us to be in the last two standing.

“When I played for Australia for the first time, the camaraderie and the vibe of the team over that week was great. We see each other a lot during the year but don’t get to talk much. But when we come together it is like we have never left, so it is something in the culture.”

The United Cup, a mixed-teams event consisting of 18 nations, will be contested in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney, with four countries advancing to the knockout stage in Sydney. Each United Cup tie will comprise two men’s and two women’s singles matches and one mixed doubles match to be played across two days, with the tournament running from 29 December-8 January.

Team Australia, spearheaded by Nick Kyrgios, will start its title quest against Team Great Britain on Thursday evening. Team Spain, led by Rafael Nadal and Paula Badosa, are also in Group D.

“It is exciting,” de Minaur said. “It is a new event in tennis. Innovating in this great sport and I think it will bring a new audience. We have a tough group, but we are happy being the underdogs. We just have to give it our all, that’s all we can ask for ourselves.”

Photo Credits: TENNIS AUSTRALIA

If you’ve never tuned into the ATP Challenger Tour, make it your new year’s resolution to watch the game’s brightest young stars this upcoming season.

One week from now, the Challenger Tour will begin its 46th year. This season, set to begin 2 January, will introduce innovations and enhancements that will strengthen the experience for players, spectators, and tournament hosts.

Key changes to this upcoming season, which were announced in September, include a projected 195 events, multi-million dollar prize money increases, and an optimised tournament calendar.

Total prize money on the Challenger Tour will rise from $13.2 million in 2022 to a record $21.1 million in 2023, an increase of 60 per cent. Round-by-round prize money distributions will improve earnings in the earlier rounds of tournaments.

Improvements will also see the Challenger Tour closely align with the ATP Tour and deliver a better balance of tournaments in both surface types and regions. The new enhancements will help create a more sustainable player pathway for more players competing on the Challenger Tour.

In addition to the four core tournament categories (50, 75, 100, 125), ATP will introduce three new premium Challenger 175 tournaments, which will be held during the second week of ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells, Rome, and Madrid.

“The Challenger Tour is the launchpad of men’s professional tennis,” said ATP Tour Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi. “[This] is a critical step forward for the entire ecosystem. The new plan increases earnings potential for players and improves the balance of tournament categories, surfaces and regions. It also puts a renewed focus on raising tournament standards. Our team is committed to delivering further enhancements in the coming months and years.”

The Challenger Tour season will begin with five tournaments during opening week, including events in Australia, New Caledonia, Thailand, Argentina, and Portugal.

When Alex de Minaur found out about the United Cup launching in Australia this summer, he didn’t have to think twice about signing up. “For me, there is no greater honour than to represent your country,” the World No. 24 said.

“It’s another chance, another opportunity to do everything I can to hopefully get a win for Australia. I’ll make sure I’m ready to go and ready to give it my all.”

De Minaur got an early look at conditions on Ken Rosewall Arena during a practice session under the watchful eye of Tony Roche on Friday.

Australia has landed in a strong Group D, alongside Spain and Great Britain, for the round-robin stage of the mixed team event. “It’s going to be great for us to really test ourselves and have great matches before the Australian Open,” said De Minaur, who won a career-high 47 singles matches this season. It’s going to be tough, but we like being the underdogs. Hopefully we can push each other, have each other’s backs, come out with some great tennis and do Australia proud.”

Australia performed strongly in team competitions during 2022, reaching the finals of both the Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cup for the first time in almost three decades. De Minaur believes these results prove that Australia is a United Cup contender.

“(We have) shown how tough we are, how much it means to play for Australia and how much pride we have in representing the green and gold,” he said. “We might not have people in the top 20, but we are still out there making finals in both Billie Jean King Cup and the Davis Cup.”

De Minaur is also thrilled that the Australian team is competing in his birth city of Sydney. “I’m looking forward to being back in Sydney, back on the courts I grew up on. It will be good to play in front of an Aussie crowd again,” said the 23-year-old.

“To get the chance to represent our country here at home in Australia is going to be great. It would obviously mean a lot if we can do some damage and take home the title, especially in front of our home crowd.”

De Minaur admits there are some nerves about the prospect of playing mixed doubles. “That would definitely be a new thing for me. I’d be potentially making my debut on the mixed doubles court,” he explained. “Who knows if that will happen? We’ve got a lot of great options on the team, so we’ll keep our opponents guessing until the last second.”

Regardless of whether he is selected to play mixed doubles or not, De Minaur is excited to join Australia’s top-ranked women in a team environment for the first time.

“It should be a lot of fun,” he said. “Us Aussies tend to stick together throughout the year anyway. This will be an even bigger chance for us to have each other’s backs and really be a tight-knit group. I think that’s the whole basis for a team to do well, so we’ll definitely be very strong in the team chemistry aspect.”

Denis Shapovalov spent his preseason training with one extra-special team member, fostering a dog named Merlin from the Humane Society of Manatee County.

The Canadian is a strong supporter of the HSMC shelter through his initiative Shapo Shelter, which helps bring awareness to shelter animals in need of good homes. Shapovalov often visits HSMC when he’s in Bradenton to visit with the animals they’ve rescued and show his support to all the staff for the amazing work they do, with many cats and dogs available for adoption.

Merlin, who has been at the shelter for over a year, was able to take a break from stressful shelter life and enjoy some time with Shapovalov, his girlfriend Mirjam Bjorklund and the rest of Team Shapo while the World No. 18 got ready for the 2023 season.

“Merlin is one of the most well-behaved dogs I’ve seen, way better than my dogs in Toronto,” said Shapovalov. “He’s learns really quickly too — like we told him to go up and down the stairs slowly, and so he’s been doing that. We have cameras inside the house and he just stays by the door and waits for us. He’s also just been a shadow for us. He follows us around and seems like he just wants to please us. We really love him and are hoping he finds his forever home soon!” 

Shapovalov also did a fundraiser on Cameo, doing video shoutouts for fans and raising over $2,500 that will go directly to the HSMC to support the great work they do all year.