ATP & WTA United Cup Betting Offers 2024/2025

Tennis is not know as a team game but it now has two nations World Cup events each year.  The Davis Cup, the longest running tennis tournament in the world, and the United Cup, which replaced the ATP Cup that ran from 2020-2022.

The ATP Cup was not new and was contested from 1975 to 2012.  The re-vamped ATP Cup tournament in 2020 was designed to be a much more prestigious tournament but it was surrounded by controversy from the start.  It was disliked by fans and players, especially the women’s tour, and it was discontinued after only three years due to logistical issues and financial loses.

With the ATP Cup shut down in August 2022 Tennis Australia announced it would be replaced by the United Cup, a mixed-gender event with 18 teams contested across three Australian cities (Brisbane, Perth and Sydney) prior to the Australian Open.

The leading 18 nations (based on ranking of each nations number one ATP and WTA player) compete in a round-robin group stage followed by a knockout at the start of January over ten days prior to the Australian Open.

The re-vamped Davis Cup is now played at the end of the previous season in late November and this results in a shorter end of season break, with the top nations back to contest the United Cup just one month later.

Many think this is simply too much tennis and may kill the Goose that laid the golden egg.  Others think it will produce new opportunities for players to earn money ($10M prize fund) and ATP/WTA ranking points.  It also ensures the season starts with a global event of significance that could aid the grand slam event that follows as leading players will be in more competitive shape.

ATP / WTA United Cup Betting Offers for 2024

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United Cup Schedule 2024-2025

The United Cup is due to take place over 11 days before the Australian Open.

How The United Cup Works

Even those with only a passing interest in tennis as a sport will have heard of the Majors like Wimbledon and the US Open. For those that watch the game more intently, there has been something of a clamour for them to become more interesting and exciting in recent years, with the overwhelming feeling being that the sport would benefit hugely from a shakeup.

That initially came courtesy of the International Tennis Federation’s announcement that they were going to revamp the Davis Cup from 2019 onwards, which in turn resulted in confirmation from the Association of Tennis Professionals that they would be relaunching the World Team Cup.

Unfortunately the motivation behind reviving the ATP Cup was financial more than for the benefit of the game.  With already so much tennis in the season it was shunned by many players and it was hated by women’s players who had no involvement.  It lost a lot of money over its first three editions and ended up being cancelled in 2022.

The idea behind the United Cup was to open up the event to both sexes and create a more inclusive event that would be liked by fans.  It is the first mixed gender event to offer both ATP and WTA ranking points, where a player can earn up to a maximum of 500 points.

Sufficed to say, then, that tennis fans have got the re-jig of the sport that they were hoping for. In many ways, of course, they’re right in suggesting that it’s exactly what the sport needs; the classic tournaments will remain largely untouched whilst the less beloved ones will receive a shake-up that will garner them some much needed attention.

Unlike the ATP World Tour Finals, the United Cup is not just an event for men only, with female tennis players coming under the jurisdiction of the Women’s Tennis Association now able to play. Here we’ll tell you some information about the history of the United Cup as well what the new version of the tournament involves.

New Format

Eighteen nations are split up into six groups of three teams.  It will be held at the end of December into the start of January over 11 days preceding the Australian Open.

There are two host cities in Australia (Perth and Sydney) that will host three groups each. Groups play each other in a round-robin format, meaning each nation will play two group matches.  Being an ATP and WTA event this is of course a men and women mixed competition.

Initially each group match consists of two men’s singles matches and two women’s singles matches along with a mixed doubles game. This was changed in 2023/24 to just one men’s, one women’s and one mixed doubles match.  This reduces the overall number of matches in the competition and helps with reducing the load of the tournament on players.

The three group winners from each of the two cities will enter the quarter finals along with the two best runners-up, one from each city. Four teams will then progress to the semi finals, followed by the final.  Like the Davis Cup this will be on consecutive days in quite a tight schedule.  Semi-finals and the final will all be held in Sydney.

Up to 500 ATP and WTA ranking points will also be available for the event alongside a $10M prize pool, to incentivise players to start their season even earlier to compete in this event.

Qualification

The 18 nations will be selected based on the ATP and WTA ranking of the number one singles player from each country.  You can therefore guarantee the likes of Spain, Switzerland, Germany, France and Italy will all be involved.

Australia earn a place as host country even if they do not qualify on ranking points.  Six countries qualify based on the ranking of their number one ATP player, another six qualify based on the ranking of their number one WTA player.  The other six nations qualify based on the combined ATP and WTA ranking of their top ranked men’s and women’s player.

The UK qualified thanks to Cameron Norrie’s 14 ATP ranking in 2023/24.

Australia To Host The United Cup

Awarding the re-vamped United Cup to Australia was a strategic move as much as anything.  Knowing the controversy caused by launching the competition in an already packed landscape of tennis tournaments the organising body knew they had to reduce travel and disruption for players to take part.

As with the previous ATP Cup the United Cup takes take place in Australia finishing less than a week before the start of the Australian Open.  While this will help players acclimatise it still means competitors will be starting their season earlier with less preparation time.

On the other hand many say this event could improve the Australian Open itself in light of the fact players will be more ready for the event following a competitive ATP Cup.

2024-2025 United Cup Venues

World Cup matches will take place in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney.  Given the event is so close to the Aussie Open Melbourne will not be used as it will be preparing for the Grand Slam tournament.

Brisbane’s Pat Rafter Arena, also known as the Queensland Tennis Centre (pictured above), is one of the venues, regularly delivering 90,000+ attendances overall during the Brisbane International.

Perth and Adelaide has also all declared an early interest in hosting the new tournament with Perth winning those rights.  Matches on the west coast will be held at the RAX Arena with a 15,000 capacity.

Sydney’s Olympic Park Tennis Centre will be used for the final itself, the 10,500 seater venue was renamed after multiple grand slam winner Ken Rosewall in 2008.

Prize Money For Match Wins

#1 is the nations number one ranked player, #2 is the nations number two ranked player.

$10,000,000 USD (~£5.3M) in prize money has been announced for the event.  This is a significant increase from the prize money at the discontinued ATP Cup that was $5 million less.  Initially in 2022/23 the prize money was $15M but this was reduced in 2023/24 due to the number of group stage matches and so players being reduced.

The exact breakdown of prize money is a little complicated with participation fees, that vary depending on ranking and whether is the #1 or #2 ranked national player. The highest for a #1 ranked 1-10 in the world is $200,000.  Teams are made up of 6-8 players with those ranked 251+ receiving as little as $6,000 if a number three player:

• Number 1 Player: $200,000 (1-10 ranking) – $20,000 (251+ ranking)
• Number 2 Player: $200,000 (1-10 ranking) – $10,000 (251+ ranking)
• Number 3 Player: $30,000 (1-10 ranking) – $6,000 (251+ ranking)

The prizes for individual wins for teams and players are shown in the table above, this is cumulative trough the tournament.

ATP / WTA Ranking Points

The inclusion of both WTA and ATP ranking points to the United Cup is perhaps a bigger draw for players than the prize money, or at least equivalent.

Players can earn ranking points for winning matches that vary depending on the stage and the ranking of the opponent (see table above).  The maximum a player can earn is 500 points, which is tiered down depending on the level of the opponent.

History and Origins Of The United Cup

Founded under the moniker of the Nations Cup, the competition took place for the first time in Kingston, Jamaica back in 1975. Whilst it was hardly a failure, it wasn’t quite successful enough to mean there was much of a clamour for the event to happen again in 1976 nor in 1977. That all changed the following year, however, when it was moved to Düsseldorf in Germany. That became the tournament’s home until it was disbanded in 2012.

It was known as the Solaire Nations Cup from 1978 until 1981, becoming the Ambre Solaire World Team Cup for the four years that followed. Ambre Solaire’s partnership with it ended in 1987 when it became the Peugeot World Team Cup for the twelve years that followed.

The turn of the millennium saw another new sponsor in the form the ARAG Insurance Group, resulting in a new name for it of the AWAG World Team Cup. ARAG Stopped sponsoring it in 2010 and it looked as if there would be no tournament in 2011 until Power Horse came along at the last moment.

When the competition was abandoned in 2012 it was replaced by an ATP 250 tournament known as the Power Horse Cup, which continued to be played on clay in Düsseldorf.

The idea was floated to bring back the ATP Cup and that finally happened in 2020.  The Cup was largely a failure thanks to the fact there are already so many ATP special events for men on the calendar. The first three ATP World Team Cup’s were held in Australia to minimise disruption with the Open that follows, Serbia, Russia and Canada won the first three new format ATP Cup’s with Spain finishing runner-up twice – before it was disbanded in 2022 and replaced by the mixed-gender United Cup.

Format Of The Original Competition

Each year, eight nations were invited to take part in the tournament. The qualifying criteria was that the countries that sent teams to compete in the competition were those that had the best combined placing in the world ranking’s list for men for their top two players.

The World Team Cup took place on clay courts and saw the eight participating teams take part in a round-robin tournament. The were whittled down to the final two representing teams, which would go up against each another in a head-to-head final.

ATP World Cup / ATP Cup / United Cup Winners

# Not held in 1976 or 1977

#  The ATP World Team Cup did not run between 2012-2020

*  The revamped ATP Cup ran between 2022-2022

^ The United Cup ran from 2023 to present and now has a new format and so winners will be counted separately

The first winning nation was the United States, who also became the first nation to defend their crown when they won back-to-back titles in 1984 and 1985.

The US and Germany shared the most wins, being victorious five times apiece. There’s an argument that the United States were the most successful, though, thanks to their four runners-up spots compared to Germany’s three.

Argentina, Sweden and Spain each won the World Team Cup three times, whilst the Czech Republic, Russia, Italy and Great Britain all made the final at least once but never won it. Of the four, the Czech Republic were the most ‘unlucky’, playing in six finals but never winning. That included the last outing of this version of the event in 2012 when they lost to Serbia.

Creation Of The New ATP World Team Cup

In July of 2018 the Association of Tennis Professionals announced plans to re-launch the World Team Cup. It was done so in partnership with Tennis Australia, with the first version of the competition due to take place in Australia in 2020.

The Executive Chairman and President of the ATP, Chris Kermode, said that it would ‘change the landscape’ of the ATP’s World Tour event, kicking off the 2020 season with a team event that would have little to no impact on the schedule that was already in place for players.

The aim of the new version of the tournament was to deliver something sustainable in the long-term, both for the heath of the participating players and in financial terms.

Unlike the original version of the competition, which was open to the best eight countries, the new-look World Team Cup will see twenty-four teams competing for $15 million in prize money, plus ATP Ranking points.

Roger Federer said that he hoped that the World Tennis Cup would do for his sport what the World Cup did for football, becoming an event that takes over people’s mindsets for the month of its duration.

He acknowledged that it could take years for that to be the case, adding that he hoped the ITF and ATP could work together, given that the World Team Cup is the main rival tournament to the Davis Cup.

New Format But Traditional Rivalries

The new 2020 cup was generally a success, despite huge bushfires in Australia that overshadowed (quite literally) the new tournament.

GB did well, making it to the quarters without Andy Murray, but it was the Spain and Serbia powered by Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic that made it to the final.

Spain, who won the David Cup only 5 weeks earlier driven by Nadal, couldn’t replicate the same success as the Spaniard was beaten by Djokovic in the singles before the world number two (at the time) then contested and won the doubles to seal a 2-1 win.

2021 was another disrupted year for the new tournament with the corona virus pandemic pushing back the Australian open to February.  This resulted in a shortened ATP Cup with just 12 nations.

With players having been in isolation and with focus on the grand slam the week after there were several shocks, including Serbia being eliminated at the group stage.  It was team Russia that came out on top beating Italy 2-0 in the final.

2022 was also truncated back to 16 teams.  Covid disruption prevented a lot of players from taking part and it was Canada who capitalised by beating Spain 2-0 in the final.

The New United Cup From 2023

The doomed ATP Cup was cancelled in August 2022 as it was losing tons of money and struggling to attract players.  Many players wouldn’t finish the previous season until the end of November after the ATP Finals and Davis Cup and were simply not getting enough time off.  It also irked the WTA as it was yet another event that women couldn’t compete in.

Rather than fight against the tide Tennis Australia announced a new more inclusive event that would be mixed-sex.  The number of teams increased from 16 to 18 and were selected based on the ranking of their top women’s player as well as top men’s player.

The groups were changed from three groups of four to six groups of three.  Three cities were selected to host two groups each that would play in a round-robin two matches each.  The two group winners then contesting a city final to get a semi-final spot.  The last semi-final place being made up from the highest performing team that didn’t make the semi’s across all the groups.

While the number of group matches per team decreased the number of games increased to 5 per group match, with two men’s singles, two women’s singles and a mixed doubles.

It is hoped that with the event now being open to men and women, like the Davis Cup, it will get the fans onside.  The increased prize money may also help to get more players involved.

The US won the first United Cup, which is fitting given they won the first ever Team World Cup. They beat Italy in the finals 4-0.

In 2024 the format was tweaked with only one men’s, one women’s and one doubles match in each game.  This reduced the number of players needed to three per team and the overall number of matches.  It allowed organisers to reduce the prize money from $15M to $10 while maintaining individual prize money.

Germany were victors in the second United Cup, showing that despite the new name and format the biggest teams are still the US and Germany.  Poland were runners up with Germany winning 2-1 in the final.

Davis Cup and Other Competitions

It’s slightly disingenuous to suggest that there was a need for a World Team Cup in tennis. The sport already boasts several such competitions in different disciplines, as follows:

• The Davis Cup – This is the tournament’s biggest rival competition, organised by the International Tennis Federation and revamped in 2018 ahead of the 2019 season
• The Fed Cup – The women’s version of the Davis Cup was launched in 1963
• The Hopman Cup – Created in 1989, the Hopman Cup ticks a box for fans of mixed doubles that like to watch team tennis events
• The Laver Cup – Designed to be tennis’ version of golf’s Ryder Cup, this even was founded in 2017 and sees Team Europe take on Team World
• Olympic Tennis – Only held every four years but carries a status for tennis players akin to winning a major.  This may be an individual event but players are competing for their country nonetheless. It’s hard to see how all these tournaments could be played in an Olympic year.

A Potential Rift In Tennis

One of the concerns of tennis fans comes in the form of the potential rift between the Association of Tennis Professionals and the International Tennis Federation.

The revamping of the Davis Cup, taking it away from the home and away format that has been its bread and butter for years, and moving it towards a format similar to the World Team Cup means that there will be two such events taking place just months apart.

Top tennis players already feel as though too many demands are being made on their time, so it’s possible that the launching of two not dissimilar events in quick succession might well see those at the top of the game begin to turn against each other, depending on where their loyalties lie.

The initial ATP tournament took place in January 2020, whilst the ITF’s Davis Cup was contested by eighteen nations between the 18th and 28th of November 2019.  It is fair to say that in the battle between the Davis Cup and ATP Cup that the Davis Cup won in the hearts and minds of fans and players.

While the United Cup event is more inclusive it still does not solve the issue of having two team events in a short space of time or the congested calendar for players.  The reduction in number of matches per game from 5 to 3 in 2024 was obviously in reaction to negative feedback from players.  Hopefully a balance can be struck but as we know tennis is pretty much as congested as a sport can get.

Only time will tell the affects this will have on players and whether the United Cup event will be accepted as a regular tournament before the Australian Open.