United Cup, what is it. Formula, calendar, when Italy plays, where to see it on TV and streaming

2026 of tennis opens with the United Cup. But what is it? There United Cup è
an international tournament for mixed national teams, which is staged in Australia. The format includes teams made up of a maximum of three men and three womenwho compete in three matches: a men’s singles, a women’s singles and a mixed doubles, in the wake of a model already seen in the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup. There are 18 participating nations, divided into six groups of three teams (divided between Perth and Sydney).

United Cup, how it works and the teams involved

The United Cup formula provides a round-robin group stage. The top teams from each group go to the quarter-finals together with the two best second-placed teams (one from each city). How do you qualify? Ten nations enter based on the five best men and five best women registeredwhile eight teams thanks to the combined ranking between the male and female player with the best ranking. Here are the groups and the teams involved:

Group A: USA Taylor Fritz, Coco Gauff, Mackenzie McDonald, Varvara Lepchenko, Christian Harrison, Nicole Melichar-Martinez. Captain: Michael Russell

SPAIN Jaume Munar, Carlos Tabrner, Inigo Cervantes, Jessica Bouzas-Maneiro, Andrea Lazaro Garcia, Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers. Captain: Miguel Sanchez

ARGENTINA Sebastian Baez, Solana Sierra, Marco Trungelliti, Maria Lourdes Carle, Guido Andreozzi, Nicole Fossa Huergo. Captain: Sebastian Gutierrez

GROUP B: CANADA Felix Auger-Aliassime, Victoria Mboko, Alexis Galarneau, Kayla Cross, Cleeve Harper, Gabriela Dabrowski. Captain: Gabriela Dabrowski

BELGIUM Zizou Bergs, Elise Mertens, Kimmer Coppejans, Greet Minnen, Sander Gillé, Lara Salden. Captain: Christopher Heyman

CHINA Zhang Zhizhen, Zhu Lin, Te Rigele, You Xiaodi, Wang Aoran. Capitano: Wu Di

GROUP C: ITALIA Flavio Cobolli, Jasmine Paolini, Andrea Pellegrino, Nuria Brancaccio, Andrea Vavassori, Sara Errani. Captain: Stefano Cobolli

FRANCE Arthur Rinderknech, Geoffrey Blancaneaux, Leolia Jeanjean, Edouard Roger-Vasselin, Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah. Captain: Lucas Pouille

SWISS Stan Wawrinka, Belinda Bencic, Jakub Paul, Celine Naef, Luca Castelnuovo, Naïma Karamoko. Captain: Stan Wawrinka

GROUP D: AUSTRALIA Alex de Minaur, Maya Joint, Jason Kubler, Maddison Inglis, John-Patrick Smith, Storm Hunter. Capitano: Lleyton Hewitt

CZECH REPUBLIC Jakub Mensik, Barbora Krejcikova, Dalibor Svrcina, Linda Fruhvirtova, Adam Pavlasek, Miriam Skoch. Captain: Jiri Novak

NORWAY Casper Ruud, Malene Helgo, Viktor Durasovic, Astrid Brune Olsen, Ulrikke Eikeri. Captain: Christian Ruud

GROUP E: GREAT BRITAIN Emma Raducanu, Billy Harris, Mimi Xu, Lloyd Glasspool, Olivia Nicholls. Capitano: Tim Henman

GREECE Stefanos Tsitsipas, Maria Sakkari, Stefanos Sakellaridis, Despina Papamichail, Petros Tsitsipas, Sapfo Sakellaridis. Captain: Petros Tsitsipas

JAPAN Shintaro Mochizuki, Naomi Osaka, Yasutaka Uchiyama, Nao Hibino. Capitano: Go Soeda

GROUP F: GERMANIA Alexander Zverev, Eva Lys, Patrick Zahraj, Laura Siegemund, Kevin Krawietz, Mina Hodzic. Capitano: Alexander Zverev

POLAND Hubert Hurkacz, Iga Swiatek, Daniel Michalski, Katarzyna Kawa, Jan Zielinski, Katarzyna Piter. Capitano: Mateusz Terczynski

NETHERLANDS Tallon Greekpoor, Suzan Lamens, Guy den Ouden, Eva Vedder, David Pel, Demi Schuurs. Capitano: Tallon Greek Spoor

United Cup, Italy’s squad

Italy is part of Group C in Perth this year, along with Switzerland and France. These are the Azzurri involved in the tournament:

Flavio Cobolli (n.22 Atp)

Jasmine Paolini (n.8 Wta)

Andrea Pellegrino (n.140 Atp)

Nuria Brancaccio (n.152 Wta)

Andrea Vavassori (n.14 doubles) and Sara Errani (n.3 doubles)

United Cup, when Italy plays

Here’s when Italy will take the field in the United Cup:

Sunday 4 January – Italy vs Switzerland (10am Italian time)

– First match: Jasmine Paolini vs Belinda Bencic

– Next up: Flavio Cobolli vs Stan Wawrinka

– Next: mixed doubles

Tuesday 6 January – Italy vs France (3pm Italian time)

Primo match: Flavio Cobolli vs Arthur Rinderknech

Next: Jasmine Paolini vs Leolia Jeanjean or Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah

Next up: mixed doubles

United Cup, the complete calendar

Here’s the calendar complete and all matches of the United Cup 2026:

January 2

3.00 Spain-Argentina (Group A) – Perth

10.00 Greece-Japan (Group E) – Perth

January 3

00.30 Belgium-China (Group B) – Sydney

3.00 France-Switzerland (Group C) – Perth

7.30 Australia-Norway (Group D) – Sydney

10.00 USA-Argentina (Group A) – Perth

January 4th

00.30 Germany-Holland (Group F) – Sydney

3.00 Great Britain-Japan (Group E) – Perth

7.30 Canada-China (Group B) – Sydney

10.00 Italy-Switzerland (Group C) – Perth

January 5

00.30 Czech Republic-Norway (Group D) – Sydney

3.00 USA-Spain (Group A) – Perth

7.30 Germany-Poland (Group F) – Sydney

10.00 Great Britain-France (Group E) – Perth

January 6

00.30 Canada-Belgium (Group B) – Sydney

3.00 Italy-France (Group C) – Perth

7.30 Australia-Czech Rep. (Group D) – Sydney

January 7

00.30 Poland-Holland (Group F) – Sydney

3.00 Group A winner vs best second Perth

10.00 winner of Group C vs winner of Group E

January 8

7.30 QF 3: Group B winner – best second Sydney

January 9th

7.30 QF 4: Group D winner vs Group F winner – Sydney

January 10th

00.30 SF1: QF2 winner vs QF3 winner – Sydney

7.30 SF2: QF1 winner vs QF 4 winner – Sydney

January 11th

7.30 Final – Sydney

United Cup, where to see it

Where to watch the United Cup? All matches of the tournament will be broadcast free-to-air on SuperTennis, with availability also on the SuperTennis Plus and SuperTenniX platforms. Matches also visible in streaming on Tennis TV.