So there we have it, the 2024-25 United Cup tournament is done and dusted mostly at Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney with some group stage ties from Perth’s RAC Arena. The winner is the United States of America following their 2-0 series final whitewash over Poland without the need of a 3rd mixed doubles game.
We began the night with Coco Gauff having her moment against one of the world’s best out there in Iga Swiatek through straight sets, even though both sets were oh so competitive. But hey, Coco’s got it while Swiatek is feeling the heat who does not have a consistent Australian record, especially when playing at the Australian Open – this is from someone who always dominates on clay when it comes to the Roland Garros.
Although you can count she has won the US Open one time before on the hard courts and that was back in 2022.
Then this 2nd tie between Taylor Fritz and Hubert Hurkacz was not only another top notch outing but also a nail biter too across the best of three set. There’s Fritz firing off to a great start and Hurkacz not giving up along the way after Stage 2 thanks to his brilliant fightback that kept himself in the race alive for Poland.
This 2nd men’s singles match was done off the back of a side-by-side drag race finish and it turns out that Fritz had the better gas though than Hurkacz even via the sudden death tiebreak much to the delight of his USA team-mates as well as girlfriend Morgan Riddle by his side.
I mean, yes, the result was USA 2-0 Poland but what a Final it was along with a full 10,000 attendance house, as they’ve just regained the trophy for the 2nd time since 2023 with Germany being other winner last year also v Poland (so sorry with their runner-up finish yet again but still played their best) & so does the tournament itself over the last ten days.
At the same time, I was also fortunate enough to stop by and watch one of the United Cup games a week ago with Great Britain v Argentina, even though I didn’t get the chance to see the whole thing across three matches (women’s singles, men’s singles and mixed doubles ties).
But I, for one, would like to come back there again when the next United Cup Tennis tournament edition will return in 11-12 months time. For now, yes, it’s been unlucky and disappointing for the Aussies not to make it past the group stages despite their consolation win the other day v Great Britain (who later went on to being eliminated from the Quarter-Finals by the eventual runner-up side) but their inconsistent women’s singles record + shock opening game series defeat by Argentina says it all. We will have to start from scratch via Qualifiers in a few weeks time rather than September when it comes to the Davis Cup since they were out from semis.
But there’s still a lot more to look forward to other than the Adelaide tournament for six days today this week, we got Alex De Minaur coming off a good run much like with his fiancé Katie Boulter even though she’s British. Plus, our doubles record are still oh so strong to pull off yet again when the Australian Open will begin across a long-three week draw starting Sunday from early rounds to finals with one winner across each category can only be crowned at the famed Rod Laver Arena.
