Although the 2025 United Cup is still months away, some players have already confirmed their participation, with Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari signing up to play for Greece.
Just like last year, fans in Australia will get the best of Team Greece at the United Cup as Tsitsipas and Sakkari have both signed up to play. There is a huge Greek community in Australia, and both Sakkari and Tsitsipas enjoy a lot of fan support while Down Under.
This is particularly true in the United Cup, which has a national flavor to the competition. Sakkari and Tsitsipas have played together in the United Cup before, and both have described the experience as superb, as there is nothing they enjoy more than representing Greece on the tennis courts.
Both had similar dreams while pursuing tennis, and one of them was to make the sport more popular back home in the country. While Greece hasn’t traditionally been a tennis nation, the sport has enjoyed decent popularity with the breakthroughs of both of these players.
After the news of both signing up for the 2025 United Cup, Tsitsipas shared his thoughts on the competition and on teaming up with Sakkari again.
"The team we have built with Maria over the last few years is definitely one that gives us a lot of opportunities to go big and create a lot of damage on the field."
"Getting the opportunity to have a lot of good individuals within one team gives us a lot of motivation and a lot of reasons to go out there and fight for our best."
Tsitsipas further spoke about just playing at the United Cup and how patriotic it makes him feel. He's been quite open about his patriotism for Greece.
Both he and Sakkari enjoy playing for their country, and there is no greater honor for both of them. The way they talk about competitions like the United Cup highlight that really well.
"Representing Team Greece in a team competition like that at the beginning of the year is something that allows me to be really patriotic and start the year very strong."
"Knowing that we come from a country rich in history and good traditions and values when it comes to sports is an extra reason to go out there and represent tennis, try and do as good as we can to uplift tennis and bring its highest value in our country."
The United Cup is not far away, as the competition starts even before this year ends. The 2025 United Cup will begin on December 27th, 2024, so it's only a few more months before the new season starts, with the old one yet to finish.
Neither Tsitsipas nor Sakkari have played superb tennis lately, but both have time to work on their game before the end of the year. They are hoping for a better year in 2025 compared to 2024, as this year hasn’t been very successful for either of them.
Kicking the year off with a competition they both love and feel deeply about is certainly a good way to motivate themselves to perform well.