Iga Swiatek outlines United Cup approach as Poland chase maiden title in 2026

Iga Swiatek outlines United Cup approach as Poland chase maiden title in 2026

Iga Swiatek has detailed the mindset she and Team Poland will adopt at the United Cup as they bid to claim the mixed-team tournament for the first time when the 2026 season gets underway.

World No 2 Swiatek is one of the biggest names in action at the United Cup this year, and will once again anchor her nation's squad alongside Poland's leading male tennis player, Hubert Hurkacz.

Team Poland will contest their round-robin matches in Sydney, with ties against Germany and the Netherlands to be held on January 5 and January 7, respectively.

Swiatek is in line to face Germany's Eva Lys and the Netherlands' Suzan Lamens in her initial round-robin singles matches, and could also feature in mixed-doubles action.

The six-time Grand Slam singles champion will also have further matches to contest, should Poland top their group and reach the quarter-final, or reach the quarter-final as one of the best-placed runners-up.

The 24-year-old has recently arrived in Sydney ahead of the start of the 2026 season and, speaking in a new interview with Casey Dellacqua, revealed her excitement at returning to the city.

She said: "I was actually looking forward to coming back to Sydney, so I'm super happy that, yeah, I can be here - because it feels like home after a couple of years of being here.

"I want to visit my favourite places, I want to rest a little bit, and then practice before (the) United Cup."

Swiatek has represented Poland in all three previous years that the United Cup has been held, and the nation has consistently done well at the event, though it has yet to take home the title.

The nation fell to the United States in the 2023 semi-final, before defeats to Germany in the 2024 final, and again to the United States in the 2025 final.

The 2024 proved particularly painful for the nation, with Hurkacz holding match points in his men's singles encounter against Zverev that would have sealed victory, only to then lose the match - and for him and Swiatek to lose the deciding mixed doubles versus Zverev and Siegemund.

Reflecting on the nation's past results and the upcoming campaign, Swiatek revealed that neither she nor her teammates would solely focus on winning the competition.

"Well, I don't know what we need to do," she commented.

"I feel like we've been playing great the past years, though have been a little bit unlucky, especially with Germany - because we had match points to win the whole tournament.

"We've got to take it step by step from the beginning. There's no point to think about right now of winning because we have, you know, group matches to play first. I think we'll focus on that.

"For me, you know, going to Australia is always, like, pretty exciting, because you have to see if your tennis will work, if you're gonna actually be able to implement all the stuff you worked on during pre-season.

"I'm going to focus really on the technical part of the matches and then hopefully it will bring some good results after."

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