Davis Cup: Canada became champion for the first time

Canada made history: they beat Australia 2-0 in the final and became champion of the Davis cup for the first time. After looking for it so much, the North Americans managed to take advantage of a generation of young talents and raised the Silver Salad Bowl. Now, they achieved it thousands of kilometers from their country and without their audience in the stands. It is that beyond the fact that several tennis fans traveled to Malaga, the reality is that the Palacio de Deportes in the Spanish city looked half-empty and, therefore, the players and the coaching staff had to celebrate almost alone.

Denis Shapovalov (18th), who came from a negative week with two wins in a row, managed to redeem himself in time, since he showed his best version in the most important game: he beat Thanasi Kokkinakis (95th) 6-2, 6-4 in 1h29m. The left-handed man set the conditions from the outset, connecting 70% of his first serves (he hit five aces and the same number of double faults) and, mainly, he was more accurate when it came to breaking the opponent’s serve (he got four, two per set, against only one of his rival).

And with the 1-0 and the bag, the final thrust was given by Very happy Auger (6th), who defeated Alex De Miñaur (24th) 6-3 and 6-4 in 1h41m. The Canadian, whose performance in Malaga was notable since he did not lose a set, played an even match, but got two fair breaks to gain a slight advantage in each set and, thus, sentence the series in his favor. Those led by Lleyton Hewitt, for their part, could not get a point in the singles, a situation that would have allowed them to play doubles, their great strength.

“Seeing the ball in the air felt like my legs collapsed. Having Frank (Dancevic, the captain) and everyone rooting for me has been incredible. It was a very special moment. You play a lot of games over the years, but days like today are the ones that end up remembering for a long time“, analyzed Aliassime. Dancevic, meanwhile, said: “I am very proud of the attitude of my players in each game. It’s an amazing feeling.”

Once the contest was over, the playoffs for the 2023 edition were raffled, which will be the previous step to the world group. In this sense, Argentina will try to get back into that select space of 16 countries, although it will have a brave stop: will play against Finland, as a visitor and surely on an indoor court, just in the week before the start of the South American tour of brick dust. Emil Ruusuovori (40th) and Otto Virtanen (176th) are the main players.