Rafael Nadal is already in Australia. The Balearic tennis player is in Sydney to play the first edition of the United Cup, the new mixed team tournament that will be held from December 29 to January 8 as a prelude to the first grand slam of the course.
The champion of 22 greats spoke at a press conference about what he expects in this start of the season: “Regardless of how many seasons I’ve been on tour, the starts are always different. I have enormous motivation to start well. The last few months have not been easy for me. I just try to do the right training before the tournament starts. Of course , try to help the team. The main thing for me at this moment is to recover the good sensations on the track, To be competitive. I am prepared for it to happen, but we will see,” said Nadal.
The last winner of the Australian Open trained at the Ken Rosewall Arena, where will face Cameron Norrie in Spain’s opening duel against Great Britain: “That’s the objective now. Afterwards, we’ll try to win the first tie as a team over any individual match. Then, we’ll see what we can achieve against Australia”, Nadal analyzes.
The Spanish tennis player was asked if this could be his last time in Australia. “I hope not, when you reach a certain age you never know when it will be the last. It’s obvious, but I don’t like to talk about it right now. I will concentrate on playing at the highest possible level to give myself the chance to be competitive, to fight for everything. That is my goal now. I’m not thinking about when my last time here will be. Let’s try to enjoy it, to create something special. I’m happy doing what I do.”
United Cup: participants, competition format and rivals of Spain
in the united cup 18 teams participate: the six with the best ATP ranking, the six with the best WTA ranking and the six with the best joint ranking. They will compete over 11 days in three venues: Perth, Brisbane and Sydney, grouped into six groups of three teams. Each duel will take place over two days, facing each other the leaders and the number 2 of each team, in men and women, with a final mixed double if a tiebreaker is necessary. In each venue there will be two groups. The winners of each one will play a final and the winner will advance to the semifinals.along with the best of three defeated.
The The Spanish team is made up of Nadal, along with Paula Badosa, Pablo Carreo, Nuria Prrizas, Albert Ramos, David Vega and Jessica Bouzas.. It is framed in Group D along with Great Britain (Cameron Norrie, Daniel Evans and Harriet Dart as leaders) and Australiawho has seen at the last minute how Nick Kyrgios withdrew from the tournament, so they will have De Miaur, Jason Kubler and Ajla Tomljanovic, among their members.
Also in Sydney, group C meets with the United States (Fritz, Tiafoe, Pegula and Keys, above all), Germany with Zverev and the Czech Republic with Kvitova and Bouzkova. The winners of both groups will meet to seek a pass to the semifinals.
In Perth there will be Groups A, made up of Greece, Belgium and Bulgaria, and Group F with France, Croatia and Argentina.. The Hellenic team is led by Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari; Belgium has David Goffin, Alison Van Uytvanck and Elise Mertens, among others, and Bulgaria has Grigor Dimitrov and Isabella Shinikova.
Con France attend Aliz Cornet, Caroline Garcia or Adrian Mannarino; among the players mentioned by Argentina, Francisco Cerndolo, Federico Coria or Nadia Podoroska stand out and in Croatia, Donna Vekic, Borna Coric, Borna Gojo and Petra Martic.
In Brisbane are Group B with Kazakhstan, Poland and Switzerland, and Group E with Italy, Brazil and Norway. Hurkacz, Swiatek, Magda Linette leader Poland; Belinda Bencic, Stanislas Wawrinka, Marc Andrea Hueslver and Jill Teichmann make up the Swiss team and Yulia Putintseva and Aleksandr Bublik from Kazakhstan.
Italy presents itself with Matteo Berrettini, Lorenzo Musetti, Martina Trevisan and Lucia Bronzetti. Norway accounts with Casper Ruud y Brasil with Beatriz Haddad Maia, Thiago Monteiro or Felipe Meligeni.
A training with a young star before traveling
Nadal enter with Landaluce before traveling to Sydney
Rafa Nadal trained with Martin Landaluce, a 16-year-old tennis player from Madrid, at his academy before traveling to Sydney. The Spanish tennis player looks good physically and prepared to face the challenges that come his way this season.
Spanish calendar in the United Cup: schedule and where to see
The United Cup can be seen through RTVE Play and Teledeporte. The Spain’s debut will be at 05:30 on December 31 with the duel between Rafa Nadal and the British Cameron Norris. Next, Nuria Parrizas will play against Katie Swan.
January 1st, Paula Badosa faces Harriet Dart starting at 07:30 in the morning. Then it will be Pablo Carreo’s turn against Daniel Evans
January 2 The duel between Spain and Australia will begin with the match between Nadal-De Mianur starting at 09:00. And then the Parrizas-Z.Hives
January 3not before 06:30, Badosa will face Tomljanovic and Carreo Jason Kubler.
On January 6 and 7 the semifinals will be played. The final is for January 8.
