Greek tennis players have arrived in Western Australia ahead of the inaugural United Cup which will be held in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney from Thursday, December 29.
This year, Greece’s team for the United Cup has two Top 5 players – Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari.
Together with Tsitsipas, athletes Michail Pervolarakis, Stefanos Sakellaridis and Petros Tsitsipas form the men’s team. The women’s team consists of Sakkari, Despina Papamichael, Valentini Grammatikopoulou and Sapfo Sakellaridi.
On Tuesday morning, WA’s Deputy Premier and Minister for Tourism, Roger Cook, welcomed some of the Greek players to Rottnest Island.
Team Greece enjoyed some Rottnest crayfish and posed for selfies with the world famous quokkas and koalas. Tsitsipas couldn’t hide his enthusiasm, admiring WA’s beautiful nature from a helicopter and posting pictures on social media.
The United Cup, an ATP-WTA event presented in partnership with Tennis Australia, offers USD $15 million in prize money and up to 500 Pepperstone ATP and 500 WTA rankings points.
Brisbane, Perth and Sydney will host the group stage from Thursday, 29 December to Wednesday, 4 January 2023.
Bulgaria will join Greece and Belgium in Group A in Perth. Kazakhstan will join Poland and Switzerland in Group B in Brisbane.
Group winners in each city will play off for one of three semifinal spots.
Three City Champions will advance to the United Cup Final Four in Sydney to be played at Ken Rosewall Arena from Friday, 6 January to Sunday, 8 January.
Tsitsipas said he’s looking forward to a possible semi-final stage qualification to be able to play in front of the Greek community in Sydney.
“There’s a big, strong Greek community in Sydney. I always have a lot of fun when they come around and support me in my matches,” Tsitsipas told the United Cup website.
“I think this is going to be a very important aspect of us playing there. We’re going to get great Greek support and a very ambient court whenever we’re out there playing.”
