GREECE’S top 10 stars will hope to lift the Mediterranean nation up and raise the 2024 United Cup trophy, as the country takes on a weakened Canada, and lowest ranked team at the tournament, Chile.

Taking place in Sydney at Ken Rosewall Arena, Canada and Chile kick off play on Sunday at 10:30am as the last tennis action for 2023. Greece and Chile will prepare to go at it on Tuesday, January 22 in the morning, before the Greece-Canada clash takes place in the final round robin timeslot of 5:30pm on Wednesday, January 3.

Greece is a nation that never has a great deal of depth in its ranks, with the top 10 duo of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari essentially doing the bulk of the heavy lifting. Both should be favoured to win their singles in most encounters, then have to back up for the doubles which is usually a tie-decider.

That is the case because the other two singles players are Stefanos Sakellaridis (413th in the world), with Tsitsipas’ brother Petros the 97th ranked double players. Expect Stef to still play that spot though, while 222nd ranked Despina Papamichail is the second Greek singles talent.

The seventh ranked Canada has a lot of potential considering how many young stars have come through the two tours of late. However minus Denis Shapovalov and Bianca Andreescu, it means the challenge will be up to Felix Auger-Aliassime and Leylah Fernandez who are both talented players in their own right.

Unfortunately for the North American nation, the depth is not great, with Alexis Galarneau and Stacey Fung who are the respective nation’s fourth and sixth ranked players respectively. It means no guarantees to win the second singles despite Greece also having low ranked players.

If Chile won the United Cup, then there would undoubtedly be a movie of the triumph. With just the 19th ranked Nicolas Jarry as the only top 100 player, and then the fourth preferred singles player in Tomas Barrios Vera (103rd) lining up, there are few who would give the South Americans any hope.

It is even more bleak on the WTA side, with Daniela Seguel (668th) having to take on Sakkari and Andreescu in the singles. It will be a buzz for the 31-year-old, but the Chileans will be no match for the other two nations.

PREDICTION

Greece to advance through to the quarter finals again, with Canada finishing second – and the potential of being the additional wildcard spot in the quarter finals – with a big win over Chile.