Canada has a second chance at team tennis glory in the Davis Cup
Shapovalov and company face Germany in the quarterfinals on Wednesday
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Canada's title defence at the Billie Jean King Cup was extremely short-lived.
A year after capturing the global women's team tennis championship for the first time in its 60-year history, Canada failed to even win a set in Sunday's 2-0 loss to Great Britain after receiving a bye to the quarterfinals. Rebecca Marino fell 6-0, 7-5 to Emma Raducanu before Leylah Fernandez went down 6-2, 6-4 to Katie Boulter to complete the British sweep.
Fortunately, Canada does not have to wait long for a shot at team tennis redemption. The men's Davis Cup Final 8 is now underway at the same indoor venue in Malaga, Spain that is hosting the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.
The Canadian men played their way here by going a perfect 3-0 in the group stage in September. Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov both won all three of their singles matches against Argentina, Finland and host England to send Canada to this week's quarterfinals.
Auger-Aliassime was also the driving force behind Canada's stunning Davis Cup victory in 2022. He upset then world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in group play before winning all three of his knockout-round matches to help his country hoist the Cup for the first time in its history, which dates back to 1900.
WATCH | Examining Canada's Davis Cup expectations:
But, for the second straight year, Canada's top singles player will miss the Final 8. Last year, Auger-Aliassime was scratched due to injury before the defending champs lost to Finland in the quarterfinals. This time, the world's 29th-ranked player said he needs time to recover from his singles season and focus on his humanitarian work in West Africa.
That leaves captain Frank Dancevic with no top-50 players on his roster. Shapovalov, who sat out last year with a knee injury, is ranked 56th in the world in singles while Gabriel Diallo is 86th and Alexis Galarneau, Milos Raonic (Felix's replacement) and Vasek Pospisil are all outside the top 200.
Each Davis Cup tie is a best-of-three contest with two singles matches followed by a doubles decider if necessary, so Canada's lack of singles depth could prove costly.
The good news for Canada is that their opponent for Wednesday's quarterfinal is also missing its best player. But, even with world No. 2 Alex Zverev out, Germany still has the edge on paper with No. 43 Jan-Lennard Struff, No. 88 Daniel Altmaier and No. 95 Yannick Hanfmann as singles options.
If it goes to the tiebreaker, the Germans would appear to have a big edge with doubles specialists Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz coming off their big-money win at last week's ATP Finals. Canada is likely to counter with Shapovalov and Pospisil, who beat Krawietz and Puetz in the quarterfinals during Canada's run to the Cup in 2022.
The Canada-Germany tie begins at 6 a.m. ET on Wednesday. Watch it live on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.
WATCH | Departing Nadal falls in Davis Cup opener:
The winner will meet host Spain or the Netherlands in the semifinals on Friday. At our publish time, those teams were headed to a doubles decider after the departing Rafael Nadal lost 6-4, 6-4 to 80th-ranked Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp and third-ranked Carlos Alcaraz kept Spain alive by beating No. 40 Tallon Griekspoor 7-6 (0), 6-3. Here's the latest.
If Spain loses, it will mark the end of Nadal's pro tennis career. The 22-time Grand Slam champion announced last month that this would be his final event, giving him a chance to say goodbye in his home country.
The other Davis Cup quarterfinals are the United States vs. Australia (Thursday at 4 a.m. ET) and defending champion Italy vs. Argentina (Thursday at 11 a.m. ET). Watch both matchups live on CBC Sports' streaming platforms, where you can also see Italy and Slovakia play for the Billie Jean King Cup on Wednesday at noon ET.
