Nadal and Swiatek headline new event with huge £8.5m prize fund

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Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek will star in the latest money-spinning tournament that kicks off the new tennis season on Thursday. The duo will headline at the inaugural United Cup, a mixed gender event with staggering cash prizes that has attracted plenty of the elite names in the sport.

The 11-day tournament with a total prize fund reaching a mammoth £8.5million will be played across Sydney, Perth and Brisbane, as ATP and WTA Tour stars gear up for the Australian Open in Melbourne in January. 

The United Cup, replacing the ATP Cup, is the first-ever joint ATP and WTA mixed event, which guarantees players huge cash prizes, as well as the opportunity to play with or against each other in a mixed doubles format. 

Teams from eighteen countries will compete across the three Australian cities for group stage matches, before a champion and runner-up in each city heads to Sydney in pursuit of the trophy.

Men’s stars from the ATP Tour include 22-time Grand Slam champion Nadal, Alex Zverev, and Stefanos Tsitsipas. But Nick Kygrios was a late withdrawal on the eve of the event after he was expected to lead the Australian team against Britain’s Cameron Norrie on the opening night of action. 

Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios is said to be nursing an ankle problem and is targeting a full recovery before his home Grand Slam next month. Meanwhile, world No.1 Swiatek, Madison Keys, Maria Sakkari and Caroline Garcia are the headline acts from the WTA Tour. 

And it is hardly surprising that some of the biggest names in tennis have flocked Down Under before the new year with huge cash sums up for grabs at the innovative new event. 

It is claimed that some stars will make almost £2m in appearance fees alone for competing in the tournament, while players ranked in the top 10 will earn over £165,000 just for their group stage endeavours.

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World No.16 Matteo Berrettini summed up the overwhelming reaction of tennis stars when he learned the mouthwatering sums on offer in the new event. 

“Everybody smiled when you said that, see, so it’s good,’ Berrettini told Newscorp. “Obviously we don’t just play for the money but it’s important that it’s there.”

The tournament kicks off on Thursday, and Nadal will begin his competitive 2023 season by spearheading the Spain team in his opener against Brit Norrie on Saturday. Polish star Swiatek will also take to the court on Saturday against Kazakhstani opponent Yulia Putintseva.

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