Tiley backs United Cup amid criticism

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Tennis Australia chief Craig Tiley launched a fierce United Cup defense amid grumbling about the budding event from players including the great Rafael Nadal.

Dead rubbers, largely meaningless ties, a convoluted schedule and player withdrawals have led to criticism of the new mixed-team tournament being held as a key step ahead of the Australian Open.

Nadal’s main beef was that his Spanish side were out of contention to qualify for the quarter-finals after falling 3-1 to Great Britain, rendering the mixed doubles and then five matches against Australia like dead rubbers .

“Putting things into perspective (for) this competition, I find a negative point,” the 22-time Grand Slam champion said after losing to Australia’s Alex de Minaur in Sydney on Monday night.

“The competition is great. The idea is great. It’s not great that today we are playing for nothing.

“It’s the first year of this competition, so those are the kinds of things that we need to correct, improve and make more interesting for everyone.”

However, Tiley insists the event has already been a resounding success.

“The United Cup is absolutely fantastic,” the Australian Open boss said on Tuesday.

“If you looked at last night we had stadiums full, over 120,000 people have already come through the gate. Yesterday 40,000 people in one day in Perth, Brisbane and Sydney.

“It’s remarkable – we’ve never had that. It beats most major tennis events around the world for a day of attendance.

“So (it’s) an incredibly successful, tremendous and positive feedback from the players.”

Tiley’s rave endorsement for the United Cup will come as a disappointment to those calling for a return to the traditional summer schedule of the Australian Open ATP and WTA tournaments in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide.

But he admitted some adjustments could happen, and it is understood that guaranteed live mixed doubles matches next year are already in discussion.

Nadal sat out the mixed doubles against Great Britain after Spain were already doomed but said he would have played if the rubber had been live.

“We will debrief (on) what can be improved for 2024,” Tiley said.

“It is important to know that we announced this event five weeks before starting a preparation of approximately five weeks to carry out this event.

“Everyone wanted us to do it only in 2024, and we made the decision to do it in 2023.

“So I’m proud that the team has put together what they have put together.

“It’s going to be a big event. It’s going to end very strong in the final in Sydney.”

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