Meet Jakub Paul, the Cinderella story of United Cup 2026 | ATP tour | Tennis

United Cup

Meet Jakub Paul, the Cinderella story of United Cup 2026

The little-known Swiss has won all four mixed doubles rubbers with Belinda Bencic
January 10, 2026

The United Cup has its Cinderella story.

Jakub Paul, the little-known 26-year-old Swiss, wasn’t even sure if he would play mixed doubles in the tournament. But when Stan Wawrinka opted out of mixed doubles early in the tournament due to consecutive three-hour singles marathons, opportunities arose. The number 81 in the world seized it.

Partnering Belinda Bencic, Paul has won three decisive rubbers in mixed doubles and four overall. In doing so, he will play a key role in sending Switzerland to their first United Cup final on Sunday.

“For me it’s still surreal,” Paul told ATPTour.com in Sydney after he and Bencic defeated singles Zizou Bergs and Elise Mertens in Saturday’s semi-finals. “I can’t really believe that we are already in the final, because I don’t think anyone expected this…

“But these are the moments I practice for. We knew that the mixed doubles would always be important and Stan gave me the opportunity to play. So I thought I really had to be ready for it, to do my best. Of course, I never expected to win all those four matches. Now that we are in the final, we want to give everything and go for the title.”

What is remarkable is how Paul handled the challenge, with Grand Slam champions Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Andrea Vavassori standing on the other side of the net.

Instead of being overwhelmed by the big stage and playing for his country, he has played fearless tennis, pouncing with confidence and drilling passing shots behind opponents at the net.

Despite having much more experience, Bencic has enabled Paul to adopt a ‘big and responsible’ attitude on the pitch. “It’s just amazing to watch him play and how brave he is,” she said.

“If Belinda tells me to go, I just go,” Paul said. “That’s kind of the doubles player that comes out in me. When you make a call, you have to stick to it, because at the baseline, she doesn’t know if I’m actually going or not. So it’s just better to go, and it works.”

Paul took up the sport like many children do and went to his local club in Chur with his father and older brother. As his potential emerged, Paul moved to an academy three hours away in Kreuzlingen, where he stayed in the dormitories and returned home on weekends.

“I don’t really like change and when I was 13 I didn’t want to leave home, but after a few months I managed and really enjoyed it. I stayed there for five years,” says Paul.

At the age of 18, he moved to Biel to practice at the Swiss Federation training base and in the same year, in his only singles appearance at a junior Grand Slam, he qualified for the US Open boys’ event, winning two rounds. That led to a meeting with Roger Federer.

“Roger actually saw that,” Paul said. “When I got home, Severin Luthi called me and said Roger wanted to practice because he had a house near where I live in the mountains. He invited me for an evening and of course I went.”

Currently ranked No. 341 in the PIF ATP Rankings for singles and 81 for doubles, Paul is caught between sacrificing potentially lucrative doubles opportunities at Tour level and trying to build his singles ranking at ATP Challengers.

“It’s not an easy decision, but right now I still want to play singles,” he said. “I still feel like I have potential and a few months ago I was at my highest rank of 288.

“On the other hand, doubles is much better in the Top 80 and I have the opportunity to play Slams, so it will be very interesting. I still play Challengers where it is possible to combine singles and doubles.”

“If I play a doubles final on Saturday and then have to play singles qualifications in another city on Sunday, that will be difficult. For the time being it will work, but ultimately I have to pay my bills and if I can earn more money in doubles, I may have to switch.”

But for another day, Paul’s full focus is on [mixed] doubles as he considers the possibility of deciding another tie with Bencic in the United Cup final.