The 2024 tennis season will begin with a bang, as the opening week features not only the United Cup but also a couple of stacked ATP 250s in Brisbane and Hong Kong.
Rafael Nadal recently confirmed his return to tennis following almost exactly one year off, first in Brisbane and then at the Australian Open. The 37-year-old Spaniard will be joined at the Brisbane International by Holger Rune, Grigor Dimitrov, Ben Shelton, Sebastian Korda, and Andy Murray. Reilly Opelka, who had not played since August of 2022 before taking the court at a Challenger event this fall, is using a protected ranking for Brisbane entry.
Brisbane
The Hong Kong Tennis Open includes Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov, Frances Tiafoe, Lorenzo Musetti, Chris Eubanks, Arthur Fils, Milos Raonic, and Marin Cilic. Raonic and Cilic are in with protected rankings on the heels of extended injury layoffs. Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion and former world No. 3, played just two tournaments in 2023 due to a knee issue.
Hong Kong
The fields are especially strong considering that those tournaments coincide with the United Cup, which is a team event held in Perth and Sydney. Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Hubert Hurkacz, Taylor Fritz, and Cameron Norrie are among the participants.
Starting dates are December 29 for the United Cup, December 31 for Brisbane, and January 1 for Hong Kong.
good first week
Why do they need United Cup.
Roll on the new season.
I’m actually watching some of last year’s matches on tennistv.Adelaide , final Nole v Korda I’ve forgotten who won most of the matches so it’s like watching live
Well, you can enjoy this until new season starts, only three weeks to go:
https://youtu.be/HK0_FJ-mxtA?si=BAnWLx98wigZN2OR
Great draws for both tournies…and….Rafa is BACK!!!!