Hewitt & Stosur, Hurkacz & Swiatek: Times That United Cup Teammates Lifted Each Other Up | ATP Tour

The inaugural edition of the United Cup promises plenty, given the exciting team line-ups that have been announced.

Several countries boast leading male and female players with a long history of shared success, and in many instances, they enjoy long associations and great relationships on and off the court.

We revisit moments when soon-to-be United Cup teammates have shone in tandem, and how this bodes well for their teams ahead of the 2023 event. 

A Decade On, Hewitt & Stosur Re-unite

Ten years ago, Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Stosur represented Australia in mixed doubles at the London 2012 Olympics.

Now, they will join forces once again – this time to co-captain Team Australia at the United Cup.

Hewitt and Stosur’s London 2012 partnership was made possible with the return of mixed doubles to the Olympic Tennis programme for the first time in almost 100 years. Both Grand Slam singles champions, the Aussies had also flourished in their respective doubles careers, and it showed when they began playing together.

They dominated Polish fourth seeds Agnieszka Radwanska and Marcin Matkowski 6-3 6-3, then came within a few points of the medal rounds before falling to Brits Andy Murray and Laura Robson in a Wimbledon Centre Court thriller.

“That was a huge experience, playing with someone like Lleyton in the Olympic Games,” Stosur reflected. “I didn’t love warming up with him, because his ball just skidded through the grass too much for me, so that wasn’t great to be on the other end of it (smiling). But playing with him was obviously a lot better.”

Stosur, who at age 38 now only competes in doubles, said she was looking forward to learning the ways of team captaincy from Hewitt, who is also Australia’s Davis Cup team captain.

“He’s obviously got heaps of experience captaining Davis Cup and being on the bench… whereas I’m kind of the newbie, I’ll be trying to find my feet. So I think it’s going to be a great opportunity to kind of learn from him and see how it goes,” she said.

“To actually be privy now to the actual (strategic and coaching selection) information I think is going to be pretty awesome.”

Team Poland Keeps It Among Friends

Represented by the talented duo of Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz, Team Poland is one of the few United Cup nations boasting two Top 10 players.

It also helps that these two leading players…