"ATP Cup never worked financially" - Auckland tournament director Lamperin on future United Cup

| by Zlatko Vodenicharov

Although there hasn't been a formal announcement, it is commonly known that the United Cup will take the place of the ATP Cup.

At the beginning of the season, the ATP Cup featured players competing against one another while representing their respective nations. Each year, it attracted some of the top athletes, who proudly represented their countries in a competitive setting.

The United Cup, a mixed event featuring 16 nations, will take the place of that competition. In other words, the competition will now include WTA players in addition to ATP players.

Essentially, it is an improved version of the well-known Hopman Cup. It will clash with the WTA event in Auckland, the ASB Classic, and its director, Nicolas Lamperin, is aware that this will worsen over time as the competition gains in popularity.

Coco Gauff has already been confirmed in 2023 for Auckland; however, he understands that some start might opt for the United Cup instead, as it is a team competition.

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"It will involve a lot of players. But as we know, not all players like to play team events, or even mixed events and some will want to focus on individual tournaments, especially in week one [of the season]. It will give us some challenges, but I’m sure we can find ways around it."

Lamperin admitted that the exitement of having a new tournament may excite tennis players to take part, and also revealed, that the ATP Cup "never worked financially, providing a background to many tennis fans.

"It’s a very exciting new competition for the tour and there was a strong demand for a mixed event. From what I understand, the ATP Cup never really worked financially, because they launched just before Covid, which had a negative impact on the competition.  I think it was very important for them to find a new format that worked and I believe this is exactly what they’re doing now."

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