“We’ve had a bit of bad luck”: Iga Swiatek determined to improve Poland’s United Cup results

The six-time major champion Iga Swiatek is already in Australia, preparing for her participation in the United Cup, a tournament where she will look to improve on her results from recent years, in which Poland finished as runner-up in the last two editions, while being eliminated in the semifinals back in 2023 in its inaugural edition.

For the fourth consecutive year, Poland will field a star-studded duo for the tournament: Iga Swiatek will join former world No. 6 Hubert Hurkacz, making them one of the favorites for the title. The Central Europeans have won 11 of the 14 ties they played in the past three editions of the United Cup, always led by Swiatek and Hurkacz.

Only the United States – champions in 2023 and 2025 – match the 11 victories in United Cup ties, although the Americans suffered a defeat in Oslo back in 2024. Last year, it was precisely the Poles and Americans who contested the title, with Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz winning the singles matches to secure the trophy without needing the doubles.

Swiatek will again start her season at the United Cup, aiming to showcase the adjustments she has been working on during the off-season and positioning herself as a contender for the Australian Open – the only major title missing to complete her Career Grand Slam. In a conversation with former Aussie player Casey Dellacqua, Swiatek expressed her pleasure at starting the season there.

"I was looking forward to coming back to Sydney. I’m very happy to be here," Swiatek told Eurosport. "After all these years, I feel at home, so I want to visit my favorite places, relax a bit, and then train for the United Cup."

"I feel like the air is different here," the world No. 2 added. "I’m just really looking forward to spending some time outdoors because for the last month I’ve been back home. It’s like minus five (temperature) right now or something like that. So, I am happy to enjoy the sun and weather."

The 4-time Roland Garros champion recalled the two finals she lost alongside Hurkacz in the United Cup, where they came close to winning the title. "I don’t know what we have to do. I feel like we played really well in recent years, but we’ve had a bit of bad luck, especially against Germany, where we had match points to win the tournament," Swiatek said. "But we have to take it step by step from the beginning. There’s no point in thinking about winning now, because first we have the group stage matches. I think we’ll focus on that."

Back in 2024, Swiatek started the final with a convincing win over Angelique Kerber (6-3, 6-0), while in the second match, Zverev saved a tight contest against Hubert Hurkacz to bring everything to the decisive doubles (6-7, 7-6, 6-4). Swiatek and Hurkacz partnered in the doubles but wasted their chances against specialists Laura Siegemund and Zverev. The Poles squandered a 6-4, 5-3 lead and ended up losing in the third-set tiebreak (6-4, 5-7, [10-4]), allowing the Germans to claim the title.

Nevertheless, Swiatek hopes to improve her results this year. Hurkacz – who comes into the tournament far from his best ranking, barely world No. 75, after several months out due to injury – will need to regain form. Similarly, Swiatek expects that participation in the United Cup will provide good results and confidence to start the new season in the best possible way.

"Going to Australia is always pretty exciting because you also have to see how your tennis will work," she added. "If you’re going to implement all the stuff that you worked on during the pre-season. So, I am gonna focus on the technical part of the matches and then hopefully we will bring some good results after that."