{"id":402027,"date":"2026-01-12T00:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T00:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/402027\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T00:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T00:48:08","slug":"swiatek-injury-concerns-dampens-polands-united-cup-triumph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/402027\/","title":{"rendered":"Swiatek injury concerns dampens Poland’s United Cup triumph"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan 11, 2026, 04:49 PM ET<\/p>\n

SYDNEY — Iga Swiatek<\/a>‘s fitness and form concerns are overshadowing Poland’s breakthrough United Cup final triumph over Switzerland in Sydney.<\/p>\n

Katarzyna Kawa<\/a> and Jan Zielinski<\/a> clinched Poland’s maiden title with a typically steely 6-4, 6-3 victory over Belinda Bencic<\/a> and Jakub Paul<\/a> in the deciding mixed doubles rubber under a closed roof at Ken Rosewall Arena.<\/p>\n

The Swiss defeat denied Bencic a perfect 10 out of 10 for the tournament, after the tournament MVP and Tokyo Olympics gold medallist had upset an ailing Swiatek 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 for a fifth consecutive singles win to go with four doubles successes with the unheralded Paul.<\/p>\n

Poland’s team celebrates with the winning trophy after defeating Switzerland in the final at the United Cup tennis tournament in Sydney.\u00a0Saeed KHAN \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Hubert Hurkacz<\/a> levelled the tie at one rubber apiece with a pulsating 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Switzerland’s inspired playing captain Stan Wawrinka<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 40-year-old triple Grand Slam winner whipped fans into a frenzy and gestured love-heart signs to the delirious crowd after dragging his 16th-seeded Swiss underdogs to within a set of improbable Cup glory at the $17 million mixed showpiece.<\/p>\n

Wawrinka wowed spectators with still-the-sweetest one-handed backhand in tennis as Hurkacz threatened to unravel under the crushing pressure of trying to keep the Poles in the tie.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/p>\n

Alas, the retiring champion wilted after nabbing the second set as Poland stormed to a first United Cup crown after losing back-to-back finals in 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n

But while her team rejoiced, Swiatek will head to Melbourne on Monday with her health and game under intense scrutiny after a series of mysterious meltdowns and lacklustre showings in Sydney.<\/p>\n

In a worrying development just a week out from the Australian Open, the world No. 2 left the court for treatment after suffering a rare bagel in her deflating loss to Bencic.<\/p>\n

Swiatek was in state of complete despair by the end, tossing her racquet across the court and bursting into tears following her second straight defeat at the event.<\/p>\n

While world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> underlined her Open favouritism with a third successive Brisbane International crown on Sunday, Swiatek — the Belarusian’s closest pursuer in the rankings — also endured a straight-sets loss to world No.4 Coco Gauff<\/a> on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

The six-time Grand Slam winner was also seen crying at the first changeover during her victory over Australian Maya Joint<\/a> on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Ecstatic with Poland’s victory, Swiatek played down any issues.<\/p>\n

“Everything is fine. Just super sore,” she said.<\/p>\n

“First tournament of the year, it causes the body (to feel) a bit different. Differently than during the season.<\/p>\n

“But I had similar experience last year also, so I’ll just get good recovery, a couple of days off.<\/p>\n

“Also, these team events, I really love them, but they really take a lot of energy from you.<\/p>\n

“So I still need to figure out how to balance that maybe in the future because I get so excited on the bench.<\/p>\n

“It’s almost like playing a match, honestly, so, yeah, it’s all good.”<\/p>\n

But after snaring the third leg of a fabled career Grand Slam with a famous 6-0, 6-0 Wimbledon final triumph last July, the state of the 24-year-old’s health and game will be among the major talking points in the countdown to the season’s first major starting next Sunday at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan 11, 2026, 04:49 PM ET SYDNEY — Iga Swiatek‘s fitness and form concerns are overshadowing Poland’s breakthrough…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-402027","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}