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 The Hopman Cup is an annual international team tennis tournament
held in Perth, Western Australia in early-January (sometimes commencing in
late-December) each year.
Unlike other major international team tennis tournaments
like the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup, which are strictly for men or women only,
the Hopman Cup is a mixed competition where male
and female players team up together on combined
teams.
Eight nations are selected annually to compete in the Hopman
Cup. Each team consists of one male player and one female player. Each match-up
between two teams at the championships consists of:
Each year the eight competing teams are spearated into two
groups of four and face-off against each of the other three teams in their
group in a round-robin format. The top two teams in each group then meet
a final to decide the champions.
The matches are played at an indoor hardcourt venue
- the Burswood Dome at Burswood Casino.
The tournament is a sanctioned event in the calendar
of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), and individuals players'
results are included in the calculation of the tennis' world rankings.
The competition is considered by many leading players to be an
important lead-up tournament to the Australian Open each January.
The winning team receives a silver cup perpetual
trophy, and the winning team members are presented with distinctive
individual trophies in the shape of a tennis ball encrusted with
diamonds from the Argyle diamond mine in the Kimberley region of
Western Australia.
The championship is named in honour of Harry Hopman
(1906-1985), an Australian tennis player and coach who guided the
country to no less than 15 Davis Cup titles in the 1938-1969 period.
The Tournament Director of the Hopman Cup is the
former Australian tennis player Paul McNamee, who played a key
role in the founding of the championships.
Since the Hopman Cup was founded, it has been attended
every year by the late-Harry Hopman's wife, Lucy, who travels to
the tournament annually from her home in the United States. Fans
have warmly adopted her as the 'Queen of the Cup'.
Past Champions
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