By The star Tennis player Alexander Zverev inspired Germany to their maiden United Cup title on Sunday, January 7. Germany defeated their neighbours Poland by 2-1 in the final at Sydney’s Ken Rosewall Arena.
Zverev beat the world no.9 Hubert Hurkacz in the opening thriller to give Germany a lead but the current world no.1 and the four-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek levelled the score by defeating the former no.1 Angelique Kerber in the second game.
But Zverev partnered with Laura Siegemund stunned Iga Swiatek-Hubert Hurkacz by 6-4, 5-7, 10-4 in the third match to clinch the prestigious ATP 500 title. Zverev saved two points against Hurkacz to play a big role in Germany’s triumph but Swiatek was awarded with MVP for her dominant result against three-time major Angelique Kerber.
Zverev credited his teammates for a thrilling win over Poland and also praised Iga’s impressive performance.
“It’s been absolutely amazing. It’s been a pleasure and it’s been absolutely so much fun for everybody to be part of this team, especially for me,” Zverev said during the trophy presentation. “I really thank you guys for being part of this. I really couldn’t be happier to be sharing this trophy with anybody than you guys. Iga, congratulations on the MVP. I said it before in an interview, I think having you on a team is like having a cheat code on a video game, so it’s amazing what you’ve been doing for the past few years and I think you have a big season ahead.”
Swiatek, 22, expressed her disappointment to miss the silverware but highlighted the team’s impressive progress in the tournament after making the semi-finals last year.
“It was really tight. Last year we made it to the semi-finals, this year to the final so hopefully the next step is going to be winning,” Swiatek said. “For sure we’re making progress and I want to thank my team, all the players, the captain [Tomasz Wiktorowski], who I convinced to be a captain. And he did an amazing job, really supported us throughout the whole tournament.”
