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Iga Swiatek believes Poland’s repeated near-misses at the United Cup are not down to poor play, but to moments of bad luck at key stages of the tournament.
The Polish team has reached the latter rounds of the mixed team event in each of the last three editions, yet the title has remained out of reach. In 2023, Poland was knocked out in the semifinals by the United States. A year later, they went even closer, reaching the final before losing 2–1 to Germany after Hubert Hurkacz missed two match points against Alexander Zverev.
The most recent United Cup followed a similar pattern, with Poland again making a deep run before falling at the semifinal stage. Despite the consistency, the breakthrough win has yet to arrive.
Heading into the 2026 United Cup, Poland is once again among the favourites, led by Swiatek and Hurkacz. Still, Swiatek says the team’s focus is on taking things one match at a time rather than dwelling on past disappointment.
“I don’t know what we have to do. I feel like we played really well in recent years, but we’ve had a bit of bad luck, especially against Germany, where we had match points to win the tournament. But we have to take it step by step from the beginning. There’s no point in thinking about winning now, because first we have the group stage matches. I think we’ll focus on that,” Swiatek told Eurosport Poland.
Poland’s squad for the upcoming event also includes Katarzyna Kawa, Katarzyna Piter, Daniel Michalski, and Jan Zielinski. Drawn in Group F in Sydney, they will face Germany and the Netherlands in the group stage.
Swiatek will begin her 2026 season on Saturday against world No. 40 Eva Lys, a player she leads 3–0 in their head to head.
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