Canada, led by Fernandez and Auger-Aliassime, set to make United Cup debut

Canada, led by Felix Auger-Aliassime and Leylah Fernandez, will compete at the United Cup mixed team event for the first time in December and January. The entries from the top 16 countries were released by Tennis Australia on Friday.

New-look mixed team event runs Dec. 29 to Jan. 7 in Australian cities Perth, Sydney

The Associated Press · Posted: Oct 19, 2023 8:45 PM EDT | Last Updated: October 20, 2023

A male and female tennis player stand next to each other on a court while holding rackets as spectators watch from the stands behind them. — Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal and Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., will lead Canada at the 2024 United Cup, one of the key warm-up tournaments for the Australian Open. (Frank Franklin II/The Associated Press)

Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek will headline the new-look United Cup mixed team event in Perth and Sydney from Dec. 29 to Jan. 7 as one of the key warm-up tournaments for the Australian Open.

Team Poland, led by world No. 2 and four-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz, has been named as the top seed for the 2024 edition after the entries from the top 16 countries were released by Tennis Australia on Friday.

Four countries are set to make their United Cup debuts.

Canada, featuring Felix Auger-Aliassime and Leylah Fernandez, and Serbia, led by Djokovic and Olga Danilovic, will compete for the first time. China's Zheng Qinwen and Zhizhen Zhang and the Netherlands' Tallon Griekspoor and Arantxa Rus will also make their debuts.

The Canadian team also includes Alexis Galarneau, Stacey Fung and Adil Shamasdin.

WATCH | Auger-Aliassime advances to quarterfinals at Japan Open:

Auger-Aliassime offs Ofner to reach Tokyo Open quarterfinals

1 year ago

3:25

Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime downed Austrian Sebastian Ofner 6-4, 6-1 to advance to the Tokyo Open quarterfinals.

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari will lead No. 2-seeded Greece, with the defending champion United States, featuring Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz, seeded third. France, the No. 4 seed, will be led by Caroline Garcia and Adrian Mannarino.

Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova will headline the Czech Republic team alongside Jiri Lehecka while Croatia rounds out the top six, featuring Borna Coric and Donna Vekic.