Vandeweghe looking forward to Hopman Cup debut

CoCo Vandeweghe has ended the season ranked No. 37 each of the past two years, but she'll start the new year off a little differently with her Hopman Cup debut in Perth.

The event runs from January 1–7.

Settling into a season with a team event that doesn’t count for rankings points agrees with the American.

“I think it's always nice to have a little bit of pressure off of yourself, in like the collecting-points scenario," the 25-year-old said. "To start right off the bat in a little bit more of a relaxed atmosphere, it could be beneficial. So I'm excited to see how it turns out.”

Vandeweghe will team up with Jack Sock, who also enjoyed a solid 2016 campaign, finishing at No. 23. The week-long event will feature eight two-player teams competing in singles and mixed doubles. The star power this year includes the likes of Roger Federer, Nick Kyrgios and Belinda Bencic.

Vandeweghe is no stranger to team events, having played on both Fed Cup and Olympic teams this past year. Becoming an Olympian was a lifelong goal realized for Vandeweghe—her mother, Tauna, was a two-time Olympian in swimming and volleyball—and she prioritized making the team over everything else.

The Olympics would end up being both an honor and a challenge.

“It's going to be nice going in and not having [the] Olympics there to interrupt the schedule,” she said. “Even though it was a dream come true to make the team and I loved every second of it—minus the tennis part, because it felt like the same format as any other week that we play. It didn't feel like anything special or different.”

Vandeweghe suffered an ankle injury in Stanford just a few short weeks before the Rio Games, but insisted she would do anything to make the team. In her Olympic debut, she teamed up with Bethanie Mattek-Sands—who she won Indian Wells with—to win the first round before falling to eventual silver medalists Martina Hingis and Timea Bacsinszky.

“I mean, if I could do anything over again, it would just be more of a Fed Cup/Davis Cup format since we have to play that to even qualify for the Olympics,” Vandeweghe said. “I think it would be more of a camaraderie for Team USA, and it would be easier for people to follow us.”

The Olympics are played just like any other tournament, with separate single elimination draws. Fed Cup, Davis Cup and Hopman Cup, for that matter, are far more team oriented, allowing for players to feel like they’re representing something far bigger than themselves.

The Olympic format won’t be changing any time soon, and the Tokyo Games are three-and-a-half long years away. For now, Vandeweghe can focus on what’s right in front of her.

“I’ve only heard great things about Hopman Cup,” Vandeweghe said. “That it's unbelievable, and it's so much fun.”