For more than four years, Saqib Bakht of Manchester has served Alliance National as a business development manager. Outside of work, Saqib Bakht enjoys playing tennis.
The vast majority of tennis tournaments at both the professional and amateur levels are conducted as single elimination events. A player’s rank determines where he or she is placed in the draw, and the player competes until he or she has won the final match or been defeated by an opponent. The few exceptions to this format include college matches, World Team Tennis, and the Davis Cup and Fed Cup international team competitions. One tournament with a highly unique format is the Hopman Cup, played every January in Perth, Australia.
The Hopman Cup, first held in 1989, is regarded as the world’s premiere mixed tennis event. Every year seven nations are invited to join Australia at the Hopman Cup by sending one male and one female tennis player. The eight nations are divided into two groups, with each country playing the other three teams in a round robin format. Each rubber sees the female players play a best-of-three match, followed by the males and finally a mixed doubles match. The first team to claim two matches wins the rubber, while the two nations to finish atop their respective groups face off in the finals.
Over 26 years of Hopman Cup play, the United States has claimed a record six trophies. Spain has won four Hopman Cup titles and the Czech Republic two. Poland won the most recent Hopman Cup, and the United States won its fifth runner up trophy, led by Serena Williams and John Isner.
