What's on tap for this weekend's Davis Cup tie in Ottawa

Most sports fans probably have never heard of tennis player Federico Delbonis.

To be honest, most tennis fans themselves probably know almost nothing about Delbonis — a 26-year-old journeyman, ranked 49th in the world, who's never made it past the third round of a major.

But it was the unheralded Delbonis who was mobbed by his teammates last fall, as fans screamed from the stands, after he won the final point of the crucial match that gave long-suffering tennis power Argentina its first ever Davis Cup title.

That day, Delbonis became a national hero. And the fact it could happen to a similarly-unheralded Canadian is reason enough to get excited about the start of this year's Davis Cup campaign in Ottawa — even if the two biggest stars are staying home.

Murray, Raonic both absent

When city officials and Tennis Canada bigwigs gathered at TD Place Arena last fall to announce that Davis Cup was coming to Ottawa, the excitement in the room was palpable.

• Davis Cup coming to Ottawa in February 2017

The three-day tie was expected to see big-serving Milos Raonic and World No. 1 Andy Murray anchor their respective nation's teams in a best-of-five dogfight for a spot in the tournament's next round. The hope was the pair would square off in what certainly would be the most-anticipated tennis match to ever take place in the nation's capital.

But when Great Britain announced its squad last month, Murray — likely still stinging from a shocking upset at this year's Australian Open — was left off the roster. A few days later, Tennis Canada announced Raonic was also pulling out of the tie, citing an adductor injury.

Those back-to-back blows certainly muted the buzz around the tie. If you felt like hawking your tickets on Craigslist for whatever measly pocket change you could get, well, you weren't alone.

But still: even without two of the sport's biggest names, there are compelling reasons to pay attention to the upcoming matches, which get underway at TD Place this afternoon.

Let's start with the man who replaced Raonic on the Canadian team, 28-year-old Peter Polansky. A consummate veteran, Polansky has gritted out a career primarily on the ATP Challenger tour, the second-highest rung of professional men's tennis.

He's played in front of tiny crowds at obscure tournaments for a fraction of the earnings that players like Raonic and Murray bring home. The fact he's even made it this far is impressive, given that, as an 18-year-old, he fell out the window of his third-storey hotel room while sleepwalking.

Polansky deserves a chance to play his best in front of a raucous home crowd.

Vasek Pospisil was once ranked as high as 25th in the world, and when he's on, his game is electric. He's fallen to No. 133, but could a couple of big wins this weekend herald a return to the game's top echelons? It's worth tuning in to see if he's figured things out.

Denis Shapovalov cemented himself as the future of Canadian tennis when he knocked off Nick Kyrgios last summer at the Rogers Cup in Toronto. If the 17-year-old phenom with the one-handed backhand pulls off the improbable and wins a major one day, you'll be able to say you saw him when he was still too young to buy alcohol. 

Finally, there's Daniel Nestor, who continues to laugh in the face of the normal human aging process. The 44-year-old doubles specialist has been playing the Davis Cup since 1992 — he was even on the squad the only other time it was held in Ottawa — and a successful 2017 campaign would be a great capper to an already impressive career.

Great Britain strong — but beatable

Even without Murray, Great Britain won't be easy to beat: their two highest-ranked singles players, Daniel Evans and Kyle Edmund, are both among the top 50 players in the world. And Jamie Murray — Andy's older brother — is one of the game's best doubles players.

But Canada's team has a chance. Once you're outside of the top 20, the margins between players' true talent levels narrow significantly. And a victory would send Canada into the quarterfinals in April against either Japan or France — and by then, Raonic should be back at full strength. 

So the story lines are compelling. The level of play will be high. The fans will be passionate. The stakes — advancing with a win, possibly getting relegated from the group of the top tennis nations with a loss  — remain the same, regardless of whether Murray and Raonic were to take to the court.

And someone could, at the end of it all, become the next Federico Delbonis. Sounds like a decent reason to hold on to those tickets.