Emma Raducanu to return at the United Cup as Ben Shelton and Coco Gauff lead Team USA

Emma Raducanu will end her injury lay-off at the United Cup in January, after the 18 team line-ups for the 2027 edition were confirmed on Wednesday, 11 November. The 2021 US Open champion leads Great Britain in Sydney, while Ben Shelton and Coco Gauff head the United States team in Perth.

Raducanu's first event since June

Raducanu has not played since the grass-court season. She lost the Queen's Club final to Donna Vekic 6-0 7-6 (8-6) in mid-June, then pulled out of Wimbledon on the eve of her first-round match after a scan found a stress fracture in her shin. In a message on Instagram she said she had been "medically advised to stop pushing through", as reported by beIN Sports.

The injury also kept her out of the US Open in August, and she did not play again in 2026. The United Cup in early January will therefore be her first competitive appearance in more than six months, and her first chance to test the leg in match conditions before the Australian Open, which starts about a week after the United Cup final.

She is the women's No. 1 in a British team that also includes Francesca Jones and doubles specialist Olivia Nicholls, with Arthur Fery, Jan Choinski and Neal Skupski on the men's side, according to the WTA's official roster list.

A Sydney group with France and Australia

Great Britain are in Group D at Ken Rosewall Arena with France, led by Diane Parry and Arthur Fils, and hosts Australia, led by Talia Gibson and Rinky Hijikata. Tennis Majors' published order of play has Britain opening against France on Saturday 2 January and facing Australia the following night, although organisers say line-ups can still change until shortly before play.

Because every tie ends with a mixed doubles, Britain are not wholly dependent on the singles results, which takes some pressure off a player making her first appearance in more than six months.

Shelton steps up for Team USA

The United States have won the United Cup twice, in 2023 and 2025, and lost to Poland in the semi-finals of the 2026 edition, when Gauff partnered Taylor Fritz. This time Shelton, the world No. 4 and runner-up at the Paris Masters this month, takes over as the American men's No. 1. Varvara Lepchenko, Nicole Melichar-Martinez, Keegan Smith and Christian Harrison complete the squad.

Gauff sounded confident in the organisers' announcement: "We're coming back with one goal: to bring the trophy home for the USA once again," she said, as quoted by Tennis Majors. The Americans are in Group A in Perth with Croatia, led by Donna Vekic and Dino Prizmic, and Kazakhstan, led by Yulia Putintseva and Aleksandr Shevchenko.

The rest of the field and the format

Defending champions Poland, with Maja Chwalinska and Hubert Hurkacz, play in Perth's Group E against Germany and Switzerland, whose team includes Belinda Bencic. Perth's Group C brings together Canada (Victoria Mboko and Felix Auger-Aliassime), Italy (Flavio Cobolli) and Denmark (Clara Tauson and Holger Rune). In Sydney, Czechia (Linda Noskova and Jiri Lehecka) meet Greece (Maria Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas) and Hungary in Group B, while Belgium, Spain (Paula Badosa and Rafael Jodar) and Argentina make up Group F.

Each tie has a women's singles, a men's singles and a mixed doubles. The group stage runs from 1 to 5 January at RAC Arena in Perth and from 2 to 6 January in Sydney. The three group winners in each city and the best runner-up go through to the quarter-finals, and the semi-finals (9 January) and final (10 January) are played in Sydney. Full event details are on our United Cup page.

What it means

For Raducanu, the United Cup offers competitive matches in a team setting before the pressure of Melbourne, after a second half of 2026 lost to injury. For the United States, the switch from Fritz to Shelton gives Gauff a new partner as the Americans chase a third title in five editions.