Hopman Cup

The Hopman Cup is an international team event. It is held annually in Perth, Western Australia. Unlike the Davis Cup and the Federation Cup, it is a mixed tournament in which a combined team of men and women players takes part.

The name 'Hopman Cup' is given in the memory of Harry Hopman. He was a great Australian player as well as a coach. The tournament was named as 'the Hopman Cup' in 1989, when it was conceived by the former players, Charlie Faircutt and Paul McNamee.

It is organized by the International Tennis Federation. The director of the tournament is Paul McNamee, former Australian player. In the 2005/06 Hopman Cup, the players were allowed to challenge the point-ending line calls for the first time. These calls are immediately reviewed on a large monitor by using Hawk-Eye technology.

The matches are contested on the indoor hard court. The venue for the matches is the Burswood Dome at the Burswood Entertainment Complex. The winning team is awarded with a silver cup perpetual trophy. The members in the team receive the individual trophies in the shape of a tennis ball. They are lavishly covered with the diamonds derived from the Argyle diamond mine in the Western Australia.

A total of 8 nations are selected each year to take part in the Hopman Cup. Each team includes one male and one female player. The last team is decided by the play-offs between two qualifying nations. The tournament is played for about eight days. The tournament includes one women's singles match, one men's singles match and one mixed doubles match.

The eight participating teams are divided into two groups. Each group consists of 4 teams. Each team play against other three teams in its group in the Round-Robin format. However, all the teams play against each other. The top teams in each group play in the final to decide the winner. If any player is injured, then a player of lower ranking from the same nation participates in the tournament.

Since 1998, the tournament has been sponsored by Hyundai. Hence, it is recognized by the name 'the Hyundai Hopman Cup'.

The Czechoslovakian team of Miloslav Mecir and Helena Sukova were the winner of the first Hopman Cup. The team of Monica Seles and Goran Prpic won in 1991. Steffi Graf and Michael Stich won the Hopman Cup in 1993. Germany's team of Anke Huber and Boris Becker won in 1995. The team of Martina Hingis along with Roger Federer was the winner in 2001. In the 2004 Hopman Cup, American team of Lindsay Davenport and James Blake won the title by beating the Slovak pair, Daniela Hantuchova and Karol Kucera. The most recent title is won by the Russian team of Nadia Petrova and Dmitry Tursunov.

United States is the most successful nation till date. It has won a total of 4 titles. Germany, Spain, Slovakia and Switzerland have won the Hopman Cup twice each.