| TENNIS CHANNEL TO SHOW INAUGRUAL UNITED CUP DECEMBER 28-JANUARY 8 United States to Open Against the Czech Republic Wednesday, Dec. 28 Combined Men’s and Women’s International Team Cup Tournament will Feature Stars Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek; Americans Madison Keys, Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz |
| LOS ANGELES, Dec. 27, 2022 – Tennis Channel will be the exclusive home of the inaugural United Cup December 28-January 8, to be held in Australia. The new tournament features combined men’s and women’s teams competing for their nations and tour points with a lineup that includes top-ranked players from each country, among them Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek, and Americans Madison Keys, Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz. Live coverage begins Wednesday, Dec. 28, at 8 p.m. ET, as the United States faces the Czech Republic. The United Cup begins with 18 nations split into six groups of three each. Played in three Australian cities – Sydney, Brisbane and Perth – each city hosts two of the groups of three. The event consists of a two-match round-robin stage for every country, with the two group winners in each city squaring off for a place in the semifinals (of the three runners-up, the country with the best overall record will become the fourth semifinalist). Head-to-head competition is based on two men’s and two women’s singles matches, worth one point each. Should the score be tied at two, a mixed-doubles match will settle the contest. Daily coverage can be found at https://tennischannel.com/schedule. Tennis Channel will dedicate 80 live hours to the United Cup, with another 60 hours of encore coverage. The network’s second channel, T2 on Samsung TV Plus, will also offer live matches of the event, as will streaming service Tennis Channel Plus. That platform will make all United Cup competition available on demand following their conclusion. The network’s United Cup live-coverage team includes Hall of Famer Pam Shriver (@PHShriver), and former players Paul Annacone (@paul_annacone), Chanda Rubin (@Chanda_Rubin), Prakash Amritraj (@PrakashAmritraj), Mark Knowles (@Knowlzee10s), Jan-Michael Gambill (@JanmikeGambill) and Jason Goodall. They will be joined by sportscasters Ari Wolfe and Gill Gross (@Gill_Gross), and podcaster Alex Gruskin (@AlGruskin). Lead-in show Tennis Channel Live at the United Cup will be hosted by award-winning announcer Steve Weissman (@Steve_Weissman), alongside Rubin, Annacone and Amritraj. The United States will play Germany Sunday, Jan. 1, at 8 p.m. ET. In addition to Keys, Pegula and Fritz, the Americans are represented by Frances Tiafoe, Denis Kudla, Alycia Parks, Hunter Reese and Desirae Krawczyk. The 18 United Cup countries are: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Britain, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Kazakhstan, Norway, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and the United States. |
