Canada Starts Again with Germany as Nadal Looms in Davis Cup Semis: Meet the Opposition

Photo : Martin Sidorjak

In 2022, Canada defeated Germany in the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup. Later that week, they were crowned world champions. The Canadians will be hoping history repeats itself over the coming days.

Just like the championship campaign, Team Canada will face off with Germany in the quarter-finals of the 2024 Davis Cup Final 8 in Malaga. Both teams have four of the five players who participated in their previous quarter-final returning for this year’s matchup.

A win over Germany could set a massive semifinal showdown with the host nation and it’s retiring legend.

With the quarter-final clash just days away, let’s meet the teams standing between Team Canada and a second Davis Cup triumph in three years.

Quarter-Finals: Germany

Date: Wednesday, Nov. 20
Head-to-Head: 1-0
Last Meeting: 2022 Davis Cup Quarter-Final, Canada won 2-1

When these two teams met at the Martin Carpena Arena in 2022, it was a nail-biter of a tie that came down to the final set of the final match. On that occasion, Denis Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil eeked out the win over Kevin Krawietz and Tim Putz to complete the comeback for Canada.

This time around, the two rosters look fairly similar although each will have a major change from the 2022 encounter. Neither team’s No. 1 singles player from two years ago, Félix Auger-Aliassime for Canada and Oscar Otte for Germany, will be participating in Malaga.

Instead, the matchup that was the battle of No. 2s last time is projected to be the match between No. 1s in 2024 as Jan-Lennard Struff will lead the way for Germany. He beat Shapovalov in the third-set tiebreak in the opening match of the 2022 quarter-final. These two men are very familiar with each other, having met nine times on tour with Struff winning six. The most recent clash was that Davis Cup duel.

Struff had a hot run in the middle of the 2024 season that included a title in Munich, a couple of quarter-finals on grass, and a semi in Gstaad, but he is just 2-5 since withdrawing prior to his second-round match at the Olympics. One of those wins, though, was a Top 20 victory over Lorenzo Musetti. The big-hitting German can bring the heat on any given day.

Joining Struff will be world No. 88 Daniel Altmaier and No. 95 Yannick Hanfmann. The latter was on the team in 2022 but did not play. Hanfmann was the top German singles player during September’s group stage, winning both of his singles matches.

Assuming both teams make their selections directly based on ranking, Altmaier would open the quarter-final clash against Gabriel Diallo. The pair have met once, with the Canadian retiring in the first set of their quarter-final at the 2023 Sarasota Challenger.

Even though Canada won the decisive doubles in 2022, they will likely want to avoid needing a repeat as Germany boasts one of the strongest doubles teams in the Davis Cup competition, Krawietz and Putz. Ranked 15^th and 16^th on the ATP Tour in doubles respectively, the pair reached the US Open final in September and participated in the ATP Finals last week.

The defeat to Pospisil and Shapovalov in the 2022 quarter-final was their first-ever defeat in Davis Cup play and remains to this day their only loss. Krawietz and Putz are 14-1 as a team when playing Davis Cup.

Semifinal: Spain or Netherlands

Spain

Potential Date: Friday, Nov. 22 or Saturday, Nov. 23
Head-to-Head: 2-2
Last Meeting: 2022 Davis Cup Finals Group Stage, Canada won 2-1

There are a lot of storylines for a potential Canada-Spain semifinal, but none bigger than the fact that it could be the final professional appearance of 22-time Grand Slam champion and five-time Davis Cup champion Rafael Nadal.

The Mallorcan legend announced several weeks ago that he would retire after the Davis Cup Finals, meaning if Canada defeats Spain in the semis, that would be it for one of the greatest players the sport has ever seen.

Spain is one of the most threatening teams on paper and not just because of Nadal. They will be led by world No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz, who won two more Grand Slam titles this year. Joining them as another singles option is the tenacious Roberto Bautista Agut. Doubles world No. 3 Marcel Granollers adds to the depth, with Pedro Martinez rounding out the squad.

If Nadal plays singles, he would be expected to face off with Diallo. There is a possibility that Nadal will just play doubles, likely with the doubles specialist Granollers although he did reach the quarter-finals of the Olympics with Alcaraz.

Alcaraz won his lone previous meeting with Shapovalov at the 2023 French Open.

Canada has a dramatic history with Spain at the Davis Cup Finals. The two nations met in the first year of the revamped format in 2019 with Nadal sealing the title with a win over Shapovalov. Three years later in the group stage, the Canadians shocked the Spaniards in Valencia thanks to a superhero effort from Félix Auger-Aliassime to beat Alcaraz and then steal the doubles.

The Netherlands

Potential Date: Friday, Nov. 22 or Saturday, Nov. 23
Head-to-Head: 3-2
Last Meeting: 2022 Davis Cup Qualifiers, Netherlands won 4-0

For that potentially dramatic semifinal to happen, Spain also needs to take care of business in their quarter-final. If they don’t, Canada’s opponent in the final four would be the Netherlands.

The last time Canada faced the Netherlands, the Dutchmen swept away a short-handed Canadian squad in The Hague. However, Canada was without their top four players at the time (Auger-Aliassime, Shapovalov, Vasek Pospisil, Milos Raonic) and only one member of the team that went on to win the title in 2022 was at that qualifier tie (Alexis Galarneau, who was making his debut), while the Dutch were at full strength.

Once again, the Netherlands will bring their best with their top three singles players, No. 40 Tallon Griekspoor, No. 81 Botic van de Zandschulp, and No. 111 Jesper de Jong, in the lineup. They also have doubles world No. 8 Wesley Koolhof at their disposal.

Griekspoor won his lone previous meeting with Shapovalov earlier this year on clay in Geneva. The Dutch No. 1 has reached a few semifinals this season, including last month in Stockholm.

It would be a first meeting between Diallo and van de Zandschulp, who upset Carlos Alcaraz at the US Open this year.

Final: Italy/Argentina/United States/Australia

Italy

Italy is well positioned to defend its title in Malaga with three of the five players from the 2023 squad returning, led by world No. 1 Jannik Sinner. The 2023 Davis Cup title run was a springboard for the Italian’s huge 2024 season. He is joined by world No. 17 Lorenzo Musetti, who had a career year that included an Olympic bronze medal.

Argentina

If Canada and Argentina meet in the final, it would be a rematch of their group stage clash in Manchester, won by the Canadians 2-1. The Argentines once again boast a deep team with three Top 40 players, one of three such teams in Malaga, led by Sebastian Baez and Francisco Cerundolo.

United States

On paper, the United States is arguably the strongest team in the competition. They are the only team with three singles players in the Top 25 and have the highest-ranked No. 2 (world No. 12 Tommy Paul) and No. 3 (No. 21 Ben Shelton) singles players. The team is led by world No. 5 Taylor Fritz, the third-highest-ranked player participating in the Davis Cup Finals. They also boast two strong doubles players in Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.

Australia

Will the third time be the charm for the Aussies? Australia has finished as the runner-up each of the last two years in Malaga, losing to Canada in the 2022 final and Italy a year ago. It will be tough for the Aussies who will be without No. 1 Alex de Minaur. Instead, National Bank Open champion Alexei Popyrin will lead the Australian team.

CLICK HERE for everything you need to know about the 2024 Davis Cup Finals.

Viewers can watch Team Canada’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals and Davis Cup Final 8 ties for free on CBC Gem, cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports app, and CBC Sports’ official YouTube channel. The ties will also be available in French, as TVA Sports and TVA Sports Direct will be showing Canada’s matchups, as well as all semifinals and finals.

Written By

Pete Borkowski