ANDY MURRAY has given his backing to a new mixed-gender tennis team tournament that will launch in Australia over the New Year.
The United Cup – an 11-day event compromising of 18 nations – will begin on Thursday December 29 and act as the curtain-raiser to the next tennis season.
Ties will take place in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney – first in a round-robin format and then a knockout stage – and teams will comprise of up to four men and four women
The total prize money pot will be £13million and if Britain qualify, it would mean the prospect of national No.1s Cameron Norrie and Emma Raducanu playing mixed doubles together.
It replaces the popular Hopman Cup exhibition, which famously saw Roger Federer and Serena Williams share a court and a selfie on New Year’s Day in 2019.