Format
Unlike other major international team tennis tournaments like the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup, which are for men or women only, the Hopman Cup is a mixed competition where male and female players are together on combined teams and represent their country. 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 the 2007 Hopman Cup however, this did not occur, due to the Asian Qualifying Tournament creating the eighth 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
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 ensure that each group has approximately similar strength. 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 the substitute.
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