Perth WA, Australia, 5 October 2016 | tennis.com.au

Australian wonder duo and defending champions Nick Kyrgios and Daria Gavrilova are returning to Perth for the 29th staging of the Hopman Cup from 1-7 January 2017.

The Aussies will join 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic, who are representing Switzerland.

Also headed to Perth are former world No.7 Richard Gasquet and Kristina Mladenovic for France.

Spain’s four-time Davis Cup champion Feliciano Lopez and Lara Arruabarrena will make their Hopman Cup debut.

And Heather Watson is back with world No.56 Daniel Evans to represent Great Britain.

The four teams announced today join Americans Jack Sock and Coco Vandeweghe; the Czech Republic – represented by two-time Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova and Adam Pavlasek – and Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Andrea Petkovic.

In total, four current top-20 players and nine players who recorded career-high rankings in 2016 will be vying for the Hopman Cup title in January.

The field boasts seven Grand Slam champions across both singles, doubles and mixed doubles, as well as four Olympic medallists.

Kyrgios and Gavrilova aim to become the first duo to defend their Hopman Cup title in the tournament’s history.

“It was probably one of my favourite events of the year,” Kyrgios, the current world No.15, said.

“The men’s field is very strong coming up. For me Perth is a great place to have it, especially before the Australian Open, the Aussie summer, it’s perfect conditions and I’m really looking forward to coming back.

“I think there is a little bit of pressure there. You know a lot of people want to win that event, it’s a lot of fun and there has been some great champions there.

“Australia hadn’t won it for a long, long time so to be coming back there it’s pretty exciting to be defending the title.”

Gavrilova, 22, is thrilled to be returning.

“I’m super excited to come back to Perth for the Hopman Cup. I really enjoyed my time there, the city, the arena is unbelievable, I can’t wait,” she said.

“It was really fun playing with Nick, teaming up with him. He is a really good team mate, and as you would know he is a really funny guy.

“It would be unbelievable to win it again, the title, the whole thing. It would be incredibly tough, we did it last year and we are going to give it our best shot.”

Hopman Cup 2017 field

ATP and WTA rankings listed as of 3 October 2016

2017 draw

The 2017 schedule of play can be found here.