The 2018 edition of the Hopman Cup is about to get underway. This is best viewed as an exhibition tournament, anything but a high-stakes competition. It is an international event, but closer to Laver Cup than Davis Cup in that it takes place within a few days’ time, instead of being spread out across the whole year in four separate weekend installments. Hopman Cup involves two groupings of four nations apiece. Those four nations play three competitions in a round-robin format. Each individual competition consists of a men’s singles match, a women’s singles match, and a mixed doubles match. The team which wins the best-of-three competition (all matches are three sets) gains leverage within its group. The winners of each group meet in the championship competition, meaning that no nation will play more than four competitions at this event. Each team – one man, one woman – will not play more than four singles or doubles matches during the week in Perth, Australia, just before the start of the Australian Open.
The competition in the eight-team event begins on Saturday, December 30.
Event Details
Event: Hopman Cup
Category: International Tennis Federation Event
Date: December 30, 2017 – January 6, 2018
Location: – Perth, Australia
The tournament does not carry with it match-based prize money earnings. Players do receive appearance fees. The winning players also receive a trophy.
Points
No rankings points are associated with this event.
Former Champions and Results (5 Years)
Year Champion Runner-up Score
2017: France def. United States, 2-1
2016: Australia def. Ukraine, 2-0
2015: Poland def. United States, 2-1
2014: France def. Poland, 2-1
2013: Spain def. Serbia, 2-1
Player Info:
The highlight of this event, as was the case last year, is that Roger Federer will represent Switzerland. The Hopman Cup organizers gave Federer a large appearance fee and an overall package of considerations which enticed the Swiss superstar to choose this tournament as his preferred warm-up vehicle for the Australian Open. Federer had previously used the Brisbane tournament (an ATP 250-point event) to prepare for the first Grand Slam tournament of the season. Federer will be joined again (as he was last year) by Belinda Bencic, a talented young player who has been rocked by a constant series of injuries. If Bencic can stay injury-free, she can make a significant climb in the rankings from her current position, which is just inside the top 200 of the world.
Australia is represented by Thanasi Kokkinakis. He was just 6-7 on the season last year and just 4-2 on the hard courts.
Canada is represented by Vasek Pospisil. He is coming off a couple of rough years after looking like he could be a rising player in 2015. That year, he went 24-22 on the season. However, he was just 6-13 on the main tour draw last year and 9-22 the year before.
Japan is represented by Yuichi Sugita. The 40th ranked player in the world is coming off a quiet season, going 20-16 overall. He was 9-7 on hard courts, though, and was 9-3 on grass.
Belgium is represented by David Goffin. He’s coming off a fantastic season where he reached 53 wins. While he didn’t play a single match on grass, he did go 14-7 on clay and 23-9 on the hard courts.
Germany will be represented by Alexander Zverev, who is also coming off a banner year. He collected a total of 54 wins on the season (54-21) while going 22-8 on the hard courts and 16-4 on clay. He also went 9-3 on grass.
The United States is represented by Jack Sock on the men’s side. He went 37-20 on the year along with a 22-11 record on the hard courts. He has registered at least 33 wins in three straight seasons.
Russia is represented by Karen Khachanov. He was just 24-27 on the main tour draw last year, which is a weak record. He was just 6-12 on the hard courts but did have winning record on clay and grass.
Perth Arena
The facility involved a groundbreaking in 2007, but it didn’t open in 2012 due to complications with the expected budget for the facility. Due to the searing heat in Australia in its summertime months, the Hopman Cup is generally played in indoor conditions. The Perth Arena’s retractable roof allows for play in both domed and open-air environments.
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