- Billy Harris and Emma Raducanu lead Great Britain in their United Cup campaign after Jack Draper’s withdrawal.
- Great Britain will be in Perth for the group stages as they face Greece and Japan in Group E.
PERTH, AUSTRALIA – Great Britain will face Greece and Japan in Group E of the United Cup as the British team will have to overcome Jack Draper’s absence if they want to win the tournament.
After an incredible mix of singles and doubles success in 2025, it’s now time for the 2026 season as more British success is looking to be achieved next year. That all begins with the United Cup once again this season as it is the perfect opener for some of the world’s best male and female players.
It is the fourth edition of the United Cup with Perth and Sydney once again hosting the event. Last year USA regained the title after Germany won it the previous year to win their second title with Poland once again falling at the final hurdle. Now it’s time to see which players will start their year successfully and who will have work to do ahead of the Australian Open.
The Format
Just like last year, 18 teams will compete in this year’s United Cup with the 18 teams being split into six groups of three. The matches will take place in two cities as Perth and Sydney will host the group stages with Sydney also hosting the semi-finals and final.
Just like last year, each tie will have only one men’s singles match, one women’s singles match and will conclude with a mixed doubles match. The team to win two of the three rubbers wins the tie.
Every team in the competition has been allowed to nominate up to six players, therefore giving each member of their team a fair chance of participating. The winners of each group will qualify for the quarter-finals with the best runner-up from each city being awarded a place in the last eight.
Then it’s a knockout stage tournament to see who will be crowned the 2026 United Cup champions. Last year USA regained their United Cup title with a 2-0 win over Poland in the final.
When is the tournament?
The group stages start on Friday second of January and will finish on Sunday 11th of January. On the same day as the group stages finish, the quarter-finals in Perth will take place while the Sydney quarter-finals commence on the Thursday and Friday. The semi-finals will then take place on Saturday the 10th of January while the final will take place on the Sunday.
Who is representing Great Britain?
As mentioned before, each team can choose up to six players to represent their country which will include three male players and three female players. Headlining the ATP side was supposed to be Jack Draper, who enters 2026 in sensational form having won his maiden ATP 1000 title in Indian Wells and reached the Madrid final. However the British number one has withdrawn from the entire Australian swing due to injury. The ATP singles players will instead be Billy Harris and Jan Choinski while Neal Skupski is the doubles specialist representing the men’s side on the British team.
Meanwhile on the WTA side, Emma Raducanu will headline the team as she aims to boost her form ahead of the Australian Open. While Katie Swan and doubles specialist Olivia Nicholls join the British number one on the women’s side. After being absent last year, Tim Henman returns to captain the side.
Great Britain’s group stage opponents
Great Britain’s two group stage opponents are hosts Greece and Japan. The British team will play Japan first on Sunday 4th of January at 2am GMT. The Japanese team is headlined by Shintaro Mochizuki and multiple-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka. Joining that team is doubles specialists Yasutaka Uchiyama and Nao Hibino.
The second group stage match for the British team will be against Greece on Monday 5th of January at 9am GMT. The Greek team are headlined by Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari. While Stefanos Sakellaridis, Petros Tsitsipas, Despina Papamichail and Sapfo Sakellaridi.
The other groups
Should Great Britain win their group then they will face the winner of Group C which contains Italy, France and Switzerland. In the semi-finals the British team will either face the best runner-up from Sydney or the winner of group B. This contains either a strong Canadian side that features Felix Auger-Aliassime and Victoria Mboko or Belgium and China. The other group in Perth is group A where defending champions USA are headlined by Taylor Fritz and Coco Gauff. The Americans are joined by Spain and Argentina. In group D hosts Australia will face Czechia and Norway. Finally, in Group F former champions Germany will face two-time runners-up Poland and Netherlands in the toughest group of the tournament.
Group Stage Schedule
Here is the entire group stage schedule with the tournament starting on Friday 2nd of January.
Friday 2nd January
02:00: Spain v Argentina
09:00: Greece v Japan
23:30: Belgium v China
Saturday 3rd January
02:00: France v Switzerland
06:30: Australia v Norway
09:00: USA v Argentina
23:30: Germany v Netherlands
Sunday 4th January
02:00: Great Britain v Japan
06:30: Canada v China
09:00: Italy v Switzerland
23:30: Czechia v Norway
Monday 5th January
02:00: USA v Spain
06:30: Germany v Poland
09:00: Great Britain v Greece
23:30: Canada v Belgium
Tuesday 6th January
02:00: Italy v France
06:30: Australia v Czechia
23:30: Poland v Netherlands
Wednesday 7th January
02:00: Group A Winner v Perth Runner-Up (QF 1)
09:00: Group C Winner v Group E Winner (QF 2)
Thursday 8th January
06:30: Group B Winner v Sydney Runner-Up (QF 3)
Friday 9th January
06:30: Group D Winner v Group F Winner (QF 4)
23:30: Quarter-Final Winner Two v Quarter-Final Winner Three
Saturday 10th January
06:30: Quarter-Final Winner One v Quarter-Final Winner Four
Sunday 11th January
06:30: Semi-Final Winner One v Semi-Final Winner Two
How to Watch/Follow United Cup 2026