World No. 45 Sebastian Baez has given Argentina a 1-0 lead over Spain on Day 1 of the United Cup in Perth.
Competing in his first match at the mixed teams event, the 24-year-old recorded a 6-4, 6-4 win against Jaume Munar in one hour and 43 minutes.
With the victory, Baez secured his first Top 50 win since defeating then-No. 46 Mariano Navone on his way to the title in Rio last February.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Stefanos Tsitsipas is full of renewed vigour as he chases a fresh start in 2026.
The former No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings struggled with a back injury in the second half of the 2025 season and did not compete again after playing two singles rubbers for Greece in the Davis Cup in September. Tsitsipas stepped away to focus on healing and is now feeling rested and refreshed in Perth, where he is preparing to represent Team Greece at the season-opening United Cup.
“I did spend some time recovering. I was absent from the courts for a long time,” reflected Tsitsipas on Thursday at Team Greece’s pre-tournament press conference. “The last three or four tournaments of the season I could barely hold up. So it was important to try and find something that will bring me back again healthy.
“I did all the necessary actions and took all the necessary steps to rehabilitate and get back to what I remember myself being back at. So now so far I think it makes for great feedback, knowing that I’ve done my whole pre-season without any pain, without any discomfort. I’m just hoping that stays this way and I can deliver that starting with United Cup and hopefully for the 2026 season.”
A 12-time tour-level champion, Tsitsipas went 22-16 in 2025, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. The 27-year-old has been trying to rebuild the physical foundation on which his explosive game has always been based.
“The thing that I’m most excited about is trying to see my actual training that I’ve been putting in the last couple of weeks and how it responds in regards also to my back, because my biggest concern has been: can I actually finish a match?” he said. “That was what was going through my mind the past six to eight months. I was constantly thinking, ‘If I win a match, will I be able to come back the next day and play another match without pain?
“I got really scared after my US Open loss with my back, because I just couldn’t walk for two days. When things like that happen, you start reconsidering the future of your career. I’m just hoping 2026 doesn’t bring any of that. I went to actually visit one of the best sports doctors in the world, and he so far is promising to heal me. I’m hoping this stays for 2026. That’s my biggest wish for 2026, is to finish matches and not have to think about any issues regarding my back.”
[ATP APP]Tstisipas’ first opponent of 2026 will be Shintaro Mochizuki. The pair’s maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash will follow a heavyweight WTA meeting between Maria Sakkari and Naomi Osaka as Team Greece and Team Japan face off in Friday’s night session at RAC Arena.
“We’ve played here plenty of times. Perth seems like it’s becoming part of one of the biggest cities of Greece little by little,” said Tsitsipas. “I’m glad that we’re back. It’s a great way to start the season. Couldn’t ask for anything better right now, honestly.
“I’m really hoping each and every one of our teammates is ready and prepared for war. We are going big. We are fighters. We’re Greek, so we’re going to try to make the most out of it.”
Tsitsipas also weighed in on renewing his mixed doubles partnership with Sakkari, herself a former World No. 3 singles player.
“I couldn’t ask for a better partner to play mixed doubles with,” said the Greek ATP Tour star. “I’ve known Maria for a very long time. I feel like our mixed doubles matches have built a lot of trust and confidence in what we’re good at and what we’re not so good at. Obviously there’s a tradeoff. We know our strengths. We know our weaknesses. We try and use that type of information to try and come up with the best doubles strategy and plan whenever we have the chance to play.
“Actually, reflecting on it, we’ve had so many amazing comebacks, but also appearances, including the Olympics. Thinking about it, 15 years ago I would never have pictured myself in a situation like this where I get to be on top of the game that I love the most with the female equivalent from my country.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Stefanos Tsitsipas admits he seriously considered retiring from tennis because of serious back pain during the 2025 season.
Rafael Jodar impressed on his Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF in Jeddah last month, and the 19-year-old Spaniard has now announced his decision to turn pro ahead of the 2026 season.
Jodar posted on Instagram on Wednesday announcing he would bring his US college career to a close after representing the University of Virginia Hoosiers across 2024 and 2025. The 19-year-old Jodar went 2-1 in Jeddah in December, when he earned group-stage wins against top seed and eventual champion Learner Tien and Martin Landaluce.
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“After a period of deep reflection, careful consideration and many conversations with my family and coaches, I have decided to forgo my remaining college eligibility at UVA and pursure my professional tennis career as of 2026,” wrote Jodar. “My time in college has played a huge role in my growth both as a player and as a person, and I now feel prepared to take this next step and embrace a new challenge in my life.”
Having also won three ATP Challenger titles in 2025, Jodar will begin life as a pro as the No. 168 in the PIF ATP Rankings. He reached his career high of No. 166 in early November, after lifting the third of his three Challenger crowns in Charlottesville.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]For the fourth consecutive season, the calendar begins with the United Cup, a mixed-teams event featuring top ATP and WTA stars in Australia.
This year the event again features 18 countries across six groups in Sydney and Perth. ATPTour.com looks at five things to watch at the United Cup with a preview of the Brisbane International presented by ANZ and the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open to come later in the week.
1) United States defending champion: In three editions of the United Cup, the United States has emerged victorious twice. Taylor Fritz has been a consistent presence for his country at the mixed-teams event and he returns with Coco Gauff to defend their trophy. Twelve months ago the Americans swept Poland in the final and they will try to hold off the 17 other countries in the competition.
Individually, Fritz has tallied a 9-3 singles record at the United Cup since 2023, including victories against Alexander Zverev, Hubert Hurkacz and Matteo Berrettini, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. He enters the season as the No. 6 player in the PIF ATP Rankings.
2) Auger-Aliassime among Top-10 talent: There are eight ATP singles players who are in or have been in the world’s Top 10 competing in the United Cup. The current Top-10 stars are Germany’s Zverev, Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, the United States’ Fritz and Australia’s Alex de Minaur.
World No. 5 Auger-Aliassime in particular arrives at the United Cup with momentum. The Canadian is fresh off the best season of his career, qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals for the second time. Auger-Aliassime made a Masters 1000 final in Paris and won three ATP Tour titles in 2025 in addition to his run to the US Open semi-finals. The 25-year-old and 19-year-old Victoria Mboko headline their country’s lineup in Sydney, where they visited with koalas and kangaroos at the zoo Wednesday.
<img alt=”Felix Auger-Aliassime and Victoria Mboko” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2025/12/31/05/54/auger-aliassime-mboko-united-cup-2026-koala.jpg” />
Former World No. 2 Casper Ruud (Norway), former World No. 3s Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece) and Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland), and Poland’s Hurkacz will also be in action. De Minaur will take on Ruud in Group D and Zverev will face Hurkacz in Group F, with both matches in Sydney at Ken Rosewall Arena.
3) De Minaur flies Australian flag: De Minaur loves playing at home, especially in his native Sydney, where he won his first ATP Tour title in 2019 as a 19-year-old. The home favourite leads the way for Australia on a team ATP No. 1 Club member Lleyton Hewitt captains. Maya Joint, the country’s top WTA player, competes in the United Cup for the first time. But it will be De Minaur who spearheads the charge at an event where he has beaten Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Zverev and Fritz.
[NO 1 CLUB]4) Mensik a man to watch: The 2025 season featured the breakout of Jakub Mensik to the big stage. The Czech righty began the season just inside the Top 50 and finished it as a Top-20 star with an Masters 1000 title to his name. The Miami champion established himself as a fearless contender no matter the stage, and will bring his game to the United Cup for the first time. The 20-year-old will need to be sharp from the first ball in Sydney, where he will play De Minaur and Ruud in Group D.
5) Hurkacz returns: Big-serving Pole Hurkacz has helped Poland reach the United Cup final twice and will try to do so again in 2026. But this also marks the 28-year-old’s first tournament since June in ‘s-Hertogenbosch due to a knee injury. The former World No. 6 will seek revenge against Zverev, who beat him in the 2024 United Cup final. He will also play Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor, against whom he owns a 3-2 Lexus ATP Head2Head advantage.
Key Information About United Cup
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Tennis fans have voted Carlos Alcaraz’s sizzling Cincinnati showcase as the ATP Perfect Serve of the Year by Stella Artois.
Celebrating the standout serving performances from the 2025 season, fans voted to award the honour to the Spaniard, who beat out efforts from Jannik Sinner and Taylor Fritz.
Watch the video below to see Alcaraz’s winning performance.
Alcaraz seized his moment in a Cincinnati Open semi-final against rival Alexander Zverev, ripping off three straight aces in the early stages of battle.
In the other notable efforts, Fritz went unbroken across 43 service games at the ATP 250 in Stuttgart, where he also crushed 45 aces and only faced four break points to remain untouchable all week.
Sinner stood firm against the best-of-the-best players en route to a title run at the prestigious NItto ATP Finals. The Italian saved 14 of the 15 break points he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to successfully defend his Turin crown.
The Stella Artois ATP Perfect Serve award gives fans the chance to vote for their favourite magical moments from the line. Stella Artois, one of the world’s leading premium beer brands, is a Gold Partner and Official Beer of the ATP Tour through 2028.
Click here to learn more.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]The ATP on Thursday announced the Player Advisory Council for the 2026 season.
Marcelo Arevalo, Zizou Bergs, Nuno Borges and Zhang Zhizhen are newly elected members of the Council for three-year terms (2026-2028), while Mackenzie McDonald was re-elected for a second three-year term (also 2026-2028). They join Camilo Ugo Carabelli, Pedro Martinez, Jaume Munar, Andrey Rublev and Andrea Vavassori on the 2026 Council.
Federico Ricci remains the coach representative on the Council and Nicolas Pereira was re-elected to retain his position as alumni representative.
2026 ATP Player Advisory Council
| Category | Name |
| 1-50 Singles | Andrey Rublev |
| 1-50 Singles | Nuno Borges |
| 1-50 Singles | Pedro Martinez |
| 1-50 Singles | Zizou Bergs |
| 51-100 Singles | Camilo Ugo Carabelli |
| 51-100 Singles | Mackenzie McDonald |
| 1-25 Doubles | Andrea Vavassori |
| 1-50 Doubles | Marcelo Arevalo |
| At-Large | Jaume Munar |
| At-Large | Zhang Zhizhen |
| Coach | Federico Ricci |
| Alumni | Nicolas Pereira |
The ATP Player Advisory Council is elected by its peers. Those who are designated to a specific rankings category — 1-50 singles, 51-100 singles, 1-25 doubles and 1-50 doubles and at large by all Group 1 members — are elected by player members from the same rankings category.
The Council’s coach representative is elected by ATP coach members and the Alumni representative is elected by ATP alumni members.
The ATP Player Advisory Council meets several times a year and makes recommendations to ATP Management and the ATP Board of Directors through the Player Board representatives, whom the Council elects. The first Council meeting of the year will take place in Melbourne ahead of the Australian Open.
Team Canada and Team China took the time to explore Sydney Wednesday before the start of the United Cup, visiting the Sydney Zoo where they interacted with kangaroos and koalas.
The Canadians in attendance were Auger-Aliassime, rising WTA star Victoria Mboko, Alexis Galarneau and Kayla Cross. One year ago, Mboko was outside the Top 300 in the PIF WTA Rankings. She enters the United Cup as World No. 18.
“I’m really excited. This is my first time playing such an event and playing the whole Australia swing, so there are a lot of new experiences and so many new things to come,” Mboko said. “I’m excited to play United Cup. It’s a really fun event and to be here with Felix and the team, it’s really great.”
Auger-Aliassime is flying higher than ever at No. 5 in the PIF ATP Rankings. A winner of 50 matches during the 2025 season, the Canadian will try to make a quick start to the new year Down Under. He is serving as playing captain for Team Canada.
“I have great memories playing in the past team events here in Australia,” Auger-Aliassime said. “We actually won with our team [the ATP Cup] in Sydney a couple years back, so it would be nice to get a win again.”
<img alt=”Felix Auger-Aliassime” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2025/12/31/05/49/auger-aliassime-united-cup-2026-kangaroo.jpg” />
The Team China members who visited the Sydney Zoo were former WTA No. 31 Zhu Lin, Zhang Zhizhen (second from right), Te Rigele (far right), Wang Aoran (far left) and captain Wu Di (second from left).
Zhang and Zhu lead the way for the Chinese. Zhang has played the United Cup in each of the past two seasons, tallying a 1-2 singles mark each time. He is proud to represent his country on a global stage.
“This is always different. Also that is why United Cup is a little bit different [from] other tournaments,” Zhang said. “You have to fight for every point, even if you get one more point or one more set you are helping your team.”
Action in Sydney begins on 3 January. Click here to find out who is competing in the mixed-teams event.
When a mission goes wrong, spy Ethan Hunt finds himself out on a limb and under suspicion.
Joao Fonseca and Alexander Bublik were among those to use the ATP Challenger 175 level as a springboard to bigger stages in 2025. They were not the only stars to shine at the highest category of ATP Challenger tournaments. Borna Coric earned a memorable victory against Stan Wawrinka in a thrilling Aix-en-Provence final.
Fonseca, Bublik and Coric were three of the six Challenger 175 titlists of 2025. ATPTour.com recaps this past season’s champions at that level.
Fonseca enters Challenger record books in Phoenix
Fonseca stacked milestone accomplishments in his breakthrough season, including a historic title run at the Arizona Tennis Classic. The Brazilian became the second-youngest player from South America — behind Juan Martin del Potro — to win three ATP Challenger titles.
“Having a good run at this Challenger, a 175, but it could be like an ATP 250 by the ranking of the players, easily,” Fonseca said in Phoenix. “It was super, super hard.”
South American-born players to win three Challenger titles aged 18 and under:
| Player | Age |
| Juan Martin del Potro | 17 years, 10 months |
| Joao Fonseca | 18 years, six months |
| Guillermo Coria | 18 years, 10 months |
Andre Agassi made a special appearance at the Phoenix Challenger, where the former No. 1 performed the honourary coin toss ahead of Fonseca’s quarter-final match against Hugo Gaston. In the final, Fonseca defeated Alexander Bublik 7-6(5), 7-6(0).
Kovacevic wins biggest career crown
The same week Fonseca triumphed in Phoenix, American Aleksandar Kovacevic claimed his biggest career title at the Cap Cana Challenger in the Dominican Republic. Kovacevic, like Fonseca, defeated four Top 100 players en route to the title. The former University of Illinois standout raced past Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-3 in a 71-minute final at the Republica Dominicana Open, Copa Cap Cana Ciudad Destino.
“The conditions here are very, very difficult to be ready for,” a relieved Kovacevic said after winning the trophy. “In my quarter-final match, I was cramping at the end of the match and that could be the difference. If I cramped a little bit harder, I wouldn’t have been able to continue the match or I’d have had to retire probably.”
Coric downs Wawrinka in deciding-set tie-break to triumph in Aix-en-Provence
Fan favourites Borna Coric and Stan Wawrinka delivered a championship-match showdown at the Open Aix Provence Crédit Agricole. Coric, former No. 12 in the PIF ATP Rankings, outlasted the three-time major champion 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(4) after a hard-fought three-hour, 11-minute battle on the French clay.
Coric won three consecutive Challenger titles spanning from February to March, and then added to that count in Aix-en-Provence. The Croatian was one of six players to capture four Challenger titles in 2025.
BORN-A CHAMPION 💪@borna_coric reigns supreme at @OpenduPaysdAix, clinching a tour-leading 4th Challenger title of the season! #ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/GpDPt7dws4
— ATP Challenger (@ATPChallenger) May 4, 2025
Michelsen wins first clay-court title with dominant week in Estoril
Alex Michelsen celebrated a milestone moment at the Millennium Estoril Open, where the American captured his first clay-court title. Michelsen did not drop a set all week and following his title run, he returned to his career-high No. 32.
“My mindset has gotten better on clay since last year. I was kind of dreading it, but now I’m enjoying it,” Michelsen said after defeating Italian Andrea Pellegrino 6-4, 6-4 in the final. “I got here super early because I lost in the first round in Madrid, so I probably had five, six days of preparation before I played, so I had really good preparation this week.”
Bublik builds momentum before surging on ATP Tour
Bublik produced his career-best season, claiming four tour-level titles and propelling to a career-high No. 11 in November. Before that surge in the second half of the year, Bublik was building momentum at Challenger tournaments, including in Phoenix, where he reached the final and then on clay in Turin, where the Kazakh won the Piemonte Open Intesa Sanpaolo.
“For me, it was just keeping my level to get back to where I belong where I stayed most of my career,” Bublik said after beating Buyunchaokete 6-3, 6-3 in the Turin final. “It’s just a little step towards what I really want to achieve.”
Mpetshi Perricard serves up home victory in Bordeaux
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard leaned on a standout serving performance to win on home soil at the BNP Paribas Primrose Bordeaux. The 6’10” Frenchman outlasted former No. 16 Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-5 after hammering 26 aces in the final, during which he also saved 11 of 12 break points, according to Infosys ATP Stats.
Bublik and Mpetshi Perricard’s winning form was quickly put to test, as the two faced off in the opening round of the ATP 500 event in Hamburg just two days after they each were lifting trophies. Mpetshi Perricard won their Hamburg meeting to improve to 2-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]