Tennis Canada announced on Monday the players who have been chosen to represent the country in the Davis Cup Finals round robin next September.
Quebecers Alexis Galarneau and Gabriel Diallo, British Columbian Vasek Pospisil, Ontarian Liam Draxl and Albertan Cleeve Harper will wear the colors of Team Canada at the Davis Cup, which will take place from 13 to 18 September in Valencia, Spain.
“It’s with a young team eager to prove itself that we will face the best countries in the world for this tournament,” said Frank Dancevic, captain of the Canadian team. Although we are the underdogs in this group, mainly due to the experience of the opposing players, we have every intention of shuffling the cards and doing everything possible to propel Canada towards the final phase of the tournament in November. »
A new format has been adopted for the competition in 2022. The round robin will be played in September in four cities, namely Bologna, Glasgow, Hamburg and Valencia. The 16 countries qualified for the finals have been divided into four groups, one for each city, and the top two teams from each group will take part in the final phase of the tournament.
The final phase will take place from November 21 to 27, 2022 in Malaga, Spain.
Canada is in Group B with Spain, Serbia and Korea Republic. Last April, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced that it had granted a bye to Canada (6th in the world) as a substitute for the Davis Cup finals, as it was the highest ranked losing country. at the time of qualifying in 2022.
Canada can count on the return of Pospisil and Galarneau. Pospisil, 145th in the world, will be making his 24th Davis Cup appearance and is 22-22 in singles and doubles. In 2019, he was part of the team that reached the final against Spain.
Galarneau, who has just participated in the main draw of the National Bank Open for the first time in her career, will be making her second appearance with Team Canada. His first appearance dates back to February, in qualifying against the Netherlands. The Laval resident started the season ranked 378th in the world and is currently ranked 238th.
For his part, Draxl (492nd) has just participated in his first qualifying round of the National Bank Open. The number one player on the NCAA circuit in 2021, he will join the Canadian Davis Cup team for the first time.
Diallo (553rd) will also have a first experience at the Davis Cup. Last week, he surprised many by surprising the Australian James Duckworth, 59th in the world, during the first qualifying round of the National Bank Open.
Harper (784th) is best known for his doubles play. Last week, he competed in the doubles main draw at the National Bank Open.