Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek to start their 2023 season at the United Cup

Tennis legend Rafael Nadal and three-time Grand Slam winner Iga Swiatek will kick off their 2023 season by playing at the United Cup.

The first edition of the tournament, which will take the place of the short-lived ATP Cup men's team event, will begin on December 29 and continue through to the January 8 final in Sydney.

With a reserved spot and participation in the opening matches, host nation Australia is one of the 18 nations competing in the tournament. In addition to the $15 million prize money, each nation will have four women and four men competing for 500 WTA and 500 ATP points.

The nations taking part will be seeded based on their WTA and ATP rankings, and the group stage champions will advance to the playoffs. The six highest-ranked players in the ATP and WTA who enter will earn admittance on behalf of the first 12 nations who qualified for this tournament. The aggregate ranking of their top men's and women's players will determine which of the six remaining nations will compete.

Earlier on social media, it was revealed that Rafael Nadal of Spain and Iga Swiatek of Poland will play in the tournament, which will also mark the start of their 2023 season. Besides them, Matteo Berrettini and Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, Diego Schwartzman, Francis Cerundolo, Nadia Podoroska of Argentina, Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic, Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, Qinwen Zheng of China, Alize Cornet and Adrian Mannarino of France will also take part.

Iga Swiatek recently lost in the semifinals of the WTA Finals at the hands of Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-2, 1-6, which also brought an end to her successful 2022 season. Rafael Nadal, on the other hand, will play in the ATP Finals after he was eliminated in the second round of the 2022 Paris Masters by Tommy Paul.

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"Difficult to imagine arriving in enough good shape to win a tournament that I didn't win during all my tennis career" - Rafael Nadal on ATP Finals

Rafael Nadal pictured at the Rolex Paris Masters.

Rafael Nadal will next play in the ATP Finals in an attempt to give a glorious finishing touch to the 2022 season which has seen him take home two Grand Slam titles. However, he is yet to win a title at the ATP Finals despite having competed in the competition several times throughout the years.

The Spaniard admitted that he finds it difficult to enter the year-end tournament in good enough shape to win the title this year, speaking during a press conference in Bercy following his defeat to Tommy Paul.

"For me (it's) difficult to imagine now arriving in the World Tour Finals in enough good shape to win a tournament that I didn't win during all my tennis career," the 21-time Grand Slam winner said.

"It's true that for the last five months I didn't spend enough days on the Tour. I don't even say competing on a tennis court. I say on the Tour. Practicing with the guys. That's what I need," he added.