Photo : Tennis Canada
On Friday, Tennis Canada announced that Félix Auger-Aliassime (Montréal, QC), Denis Shapovalov (Richmond Hill, ON), Vasek Pospisil (Vernon, BC), Alexis Galarneau (Laval, QC), and Gabriel Diallo (Montréal, QC) will represent Team Canada presented by Sobeys at the Davis Cup by Rakuten Finals, which will be held at Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena in Malaga, Spain, from November 22 to 27.
“It’s a privilege for our team and our country to be back in the Davis Cup Finals,” said Team Captain Frank Dancevic. “We’re also very excited to have Denis [Shapovalov] back on the squad. We now have more depth going into the Finals and the guys are fired up to fight for our flag!”
The Davis Cup knock-out stage begins with the quarter-finals, with eight teams set to compete: Canada, Italy, the United States, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, Croatia and Spain. On November 24, Canada will start the day against Germany (time TBC). A win would mean they will collide with the winners of the United States versus Italy.
Three veterans from 2019 leading the charge
In Malaga, Team Canada will be relying on the combined experience of Auger-Aliassime (No. 10), Shapovalov (No. 20) and Pospisil (No. 121), who were part of the only Canadian team to reach the final of the Davis Cup back in 2019 in Madrid. All three have had strong showings in recent weeks.
Auger-Aliassime won the second ATP title of his career last weekend when he toppled J.J. Wolf of the United States in the final in Florence. Since September, he has orchestrated major wins over World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, No. 7 and 21-time Slam champion Novak Djokovic and No. 15 Matteo Berrettini, who holds seven ATP titles. The victories and his Italian title propelled the Quebecer back into the ATP Tour’s Top 10.
Denis Shapovalov will also be looking to keep his momentum going after reaching the final in Seoul and semi-finals in Tokyo. In Malaga, he will try to replicate the success he had with Auger-Aliassime and Team Canada last January at the ATP Cup, where they were crowned champions.
Vasek Pospisil has made several jumps in the ATP rankings since the tie in Valencia and is now back at No. 121 after strong performances at the ATP 250 tournament in Tel Aviv (quarter-finals) and the ATP Challenger events in Mouilleron-le-Captif (final) and Ismaning (semi-finals). The British Columbian is the most experienced player on the squad with his 25–24 Davis Cup record. This is Pospisil’s 27th selection of his career.
No. 218 Galarneau and No. 250 Diallo will also be in the mix. Like their teammates, they have been playing solid tennis since Valencia. In the past two weeks, Galarneau played in the semi-finals of the Challenger in Tiburon and the quarter-finals of the Challenger in Fairfield. Diallo, who is the reigning champion of the Granby Challenger, fell to Michael Mmoh of the United States in the final of the Fairfield Challenger last week.
For more information on the Davis Cup by Rakuten Finals, click here.
