United Leylah Fernandez stands…

The 21-year-old half-Ecuadorian Canadian tennis player will take part in the new-look United Cup mixed team event in Perth and Sydney from December 29 to January 7 as one of the key warm-up tournaments for the Australian Open.

Fernandez, who will be paired up with compatriot Felix Auger-Aliassime, will compete for the first time as she represents her home country.

France, the No. 4 seed, will be led by part-Spanish French tennis player Caroline Garcia and Adrian Mannarino.

Team Poland, led by world No. 2 and four-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz, has been named as the top seed for the 2024 edition after the entries from the top 16 countries were released by Tennis Australia.

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari will lead No.2-seeded Greece, with the defending champion United States, featuring Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz, seeded third. Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova will headline the Czech Republic team alongside Jiri Lehecka while Croatia rounds out the top six, featuring Borna Coric and Donna Vekic.

China’s Qinwen Zheng and Zhizhen Zhang and the Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor and Arantxa Rus will also compete for the first time.

Serbia will be led by Novak Djokovic and Olga Danilovic.

Other entries include Norway’s Casper Ruud, Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber and Britain’s Cameron Norrie.

Each team will consist of men’s singles, women’s singles and mixed doubles.

The Australian Open is scheduled for Melbourne Park from January 14-28.