United Cup teams enjoy Australia

Ten days of thrilling tennis kept the stars of the United Cup busy over the early days of the 2025 season, but it wasn’t all work and no play for the stars of the ATP and Hologic WTA Tours. They took time out during the competition to enjoy some of Perth and Sydney’s most famous destinations.

Before they led Team USA to its second United Cup title in three years, Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz paid a visit to Rottnest Island, where they took a helicopter tour of the sights, posed for selfies with the native quokkas and enjoyed a famous “Cray Dog,” a Western Australian-inspired lobster roll.

Gauff was happy to be joined by her parents, Corey and Candi, and younger brothers Codey and Cameron — who took advantage of being on Christmas break in school to join their older sister Down Under for the first time.

Team Germany also visited the island, located just offshore from Perth and reachable by daily ferry from the city. World No.2 Alexander Zverev said that the island — also a nature preserve — was “one of the most beautiful things [he’d] ever seen, while Laura Siegemund was most thrilled by a bird’s eye view of the picturesque scenery.

“It was the first time I rode in a helicopter and it was really cool,” Siegemund said. “We saw some dolphins from the top, and the water was beautiful. It was really fun. I really enjoyed it — it was too short!”

Elsewhere, the Greek, Italian and Polish teams enjoyed some water sports on various local beaches.

World No.4 Jasmine Paolini admitted she was a “little bit scared” of getting on a surfboard, but by the end of her lesson with her teammates — including 29-year-old doubles player Andrea Vavassori, nicknamed “Wave” — her tuned changed.

The Greek team recreated a famous scene from the television show Baywatch — at Stefanos Tsitsipas’ urging — “with a bit of Greek flavor” at Cottesloe Beach, and grabbed their own surfboards to ride the waves at Scarborough Beach in Perth’s suburbs.

“Every single place in Australia is beautiful,” Maria Sakkari gushed.

Poland, meanwhile, made a new friend at their off-site swim at Wylie’s Baths near Coogee Beach: a pink, flamingo floatie that the team nicknamed Flammy.

“Well, I’m not a good swimmer, so for sure I survived because of it at the beginning of the tournament,” Swiatek said. “That’s why I’m able to still be here. So thank you, flamingo.”

Back on dry land, Team France enjoyed a visit to Sydney’s famous Taronga Zoo, where they fed giraffes and kangaroos, met a koala, and took copious amounts of selfies.

“So happy to be here with all the teammates for Team France,” Chloe Paquet said. “It’s an amazing experience to be so close to the animals.”