Ricky’s picks for the 2025 United Cup in Perth and Sydney

The 2025 tennis season is right here! It begins on Friday on the United Cup, a crew competitors that’s going down in Perth and Sydney.

Eighteen nations are competing they usually have been positioned six completely different teams of three. The six group winners and the general second-place groups in every of the 2 host cities will advance to the quarterfinals. After the quarterfinal matchups are contested in Perth and Sydney (no journey concerned for any crew previous to the semifinals), the semis and ultimate might be performed in Sydney on January 4 and 5.

The sector is extremely sturdy this 12 months. Defending champion Germany is operating it again with Alexander Zverev and Laura Siegemund, whereas 2024 runner-up Poland is as soon as once more led by Hubert Hurkacz and Iga Swiatek. Additionally on the listing of favorites is the US (Taylor Fritz, Coco Gauff), Czechia (Tomas Machac, Karolina Muchova), Greece (Stefanos Tsitsipas, Maria Sakkari), and Italy (Flavio Cobolli, Jasmine Paolini), .

Teams and crew rostersGroup AUnited States (Taylor Fritz and Coco Gauff)Canada (Felix Auger-Aliassime and Leylah Fernandez)Croatia (Borna Coric and Donna Vekic)

Group BPoland (Hubert Hurkacz and Iga Swiatek)Czech Republic (Tomas Machac and Karolina MuchovaNorway (Casper Ruud and Malene Helgo)

Group CSpain (Pablo Carreno Busta and Jessica Bouzas Maneiro)Greece (Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari)Kazakhstan (Alexander Shevchenko and Elena Rybakina)

Group DItaly (Flavio Cobolli and Jasmine Paolini)France (Ugo Humbert and Chloe Paquet)Switzerland (Dominic Stricker and Belinda Bencic)

Group EGermany (Alexander Zverev and Laura Siegemund)China (Zhizhen Zhang and Gao Xinyu)Brazil (Thiago Monteiro and Beatriz Haddad Maia)

Group FAustralia (Alex de Minaur and Olivia Gadecki)Argentina (Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Nadia Podoroska)Nice Britain (Billy Harris and Katie Boulter)

PicksQuarterfinals: United States over Canada, Italy over Australia, Germany over Greece, and Poland over Czechia

Semifinals: United States over Italy and Poland over Germany

Last: United States over Poland

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and likewise maintains his personal tennis web site, The Grandstand. You may comply with him on Twitter at @Dimonator.