Hopman Cup

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The Hopman Cup is an annual international team tennis tournament held in Perth, Western Australia in early-January (sometimes commencing in late-December) each year.

Format

Unlike other major international team tennis tournaments like the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup, which are strictly for men or women only, the Hopman Cup is a mixed competition where male and female players team up together on combined teams. Players are invited to attend, national coaches not being involved in selecting teams.

Eight nations are selected annually to compete in the Hopman Cup. (The 'last' team may be decided by play-offs between several nations before competition begins. For Hopman Cup XIX however, this will not be occurring, due to the Asian Qualifying Tournament creating the 8th team. The official tournament website also has no qualifier listed in its schedule.)

Each team consists of one male player and one female player. Each match-up between two teams at the championships consists of:

one women's singles match
one men's singles match
one mixed doubles match

Each year the eight competing teams are separated into two groups of four (with two teams being seeded) and face-off against each of the other three teams in their group in a round-robin format. These seedings do not have much of an impact, as all teams meet each other regardless. The top team in each group then meet in a final to decide the champions.

If a player is injured then a player of a lower ranking of that nation may be substituted.

Venue

The matches are played at an indoor hardcourt venue - the Burswood Dome at the Burswood Entertainment Complex. The tournament is a sanctioned event in the calendar of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), and individuals players' results are included in the calculation of the tennis' world rankings. The competition receives extensive television coverage in Australia and is an important lead-up tournament to the Australian Open each January. The winning team receives a silver cup perpetual trophy, and the winning team members are presented with distinctive individual trophies in the shape of a tennis ball encrusted with diamonds from the Argyle diamond mine in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

Harry Hopman

The championship is named in honour of Harry Hopman ( 1906- 1985), an Australian tennis player and coach who guided the country to no less than 15 Davis Cup titles in the 1938- 1969 period.

Since the Hopman Cup was founded, it has been attended every year by the late-Harry Hopman's wife, Lucy, who travels to the tournament annually from her home in the United States. Fans have warmly adopted her as the "Queen of the Cup".

Curiosities

The Tournament Director of the Hopman Cup is the former Australian tennis player Paul McNamee, who played a key role in the founding of the championships.

The 2006 Hopman Cup was the first elite-level tennis tournament where the system was introduced allowing players to challenge point-ending line calls similar to that in clay court tournaments. The challenged calls are immediately reviewed on a large monitor using Hawk-Eye technology.

The XX Hopman Cup, in 2008, will be the last to be held at the Burswood Dome.

Past Champions

Year	Winning Country	Players
2006	USA	Taylor Dent & Lisa Raymond
2005	Slovakia	Dominik Hrbatý & Daniela Hantuchová
2004	USA	James Blake & Lindsay Davenport
2003	USA	James Blake & Serena Williams
2002	Spain	Tommy Robredo & Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
2001	Switzerland	Roger Federer & Martina Hingis
2000	South Africa	Wayne Ferreira & Amanda Coetzer
1999	Australia	Mark Philippoussis & Jelena Dokic
1998	Slovakia	Karol Kučera & Karina Habšudová
1997	USA	Justin Gimelstob & Chanda Rubin
1996	Croatia	Goran Ivanisevic & Iva Majoli
1995	Germany	Boris Becker & Anke Huber
1994	Czech Republic	Petr Korda & Jana Novotná
1993	Germany	Michael Stich & Steffi Graf
1992	Switzerland	Jakob Hlasek & Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere
1991	Yugoslavia	Goran Prpic & Monica Seles
1990	Spain	Emilio Sánchez & Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
1989	Czechoslovakia	Miloslav Mečíř & Helena Suková