Staff Canada offered by Sobeys will kick off their Davis Cup title defence subsequent week because the group stage of the 2023 Davis Cup Finals will get underway.
The reigning champions are in Group A and shall be competing in Bologna, Italy with Chile, Sweden, and the host Italians.
4 of the 5 members of Canada’s championship squad shall be there to attempt to get Canada again into the quarter-finals.
Listed here are the lads who shall be donning the maple leaf within the Davis Cup Finals group stage.
Denis Shapovalov
Rank: 26
Davis Cup Look: ninth
Davis Cup Report: 14-9
2023 Report: 13-13
Shapovalov returns to the court docket for the primary time since reaching the spherical of sixteen at Wimbledon in July. A knee harm saved him out of the whole North American summer time hard-court swing.
Final yr, Shapovalov was a key member of the squad that introduced residence the trophy, serving to them keep alive within the quarter-finals with a doubles victory over Germany earlier than placing Canada forward with a strong win within the opening singles match of the ultimate with Australia.
2023 has been troublesome for Shapovalov, however he has performed his finest at massive occasions with strong runs in any respect three majors and was at his highest stage of the yr previous to the harm on the All-England Membership.
Gabriel Diallo
Rank: 159
Davis Cup Look: third
Davis Cup Report: 0-1
2023 Report: 1-4
Diallo is a participant who has been on the rise over the past 20 months, catapulting from No 991 at first of 2022 to contained in the Prime 150 as lately as final month.
Lower than a month faraway from profitable his first profession ATP Challenger title in Granby, the 6’8” big from Montreal made his Davis Cup debut within the group stage towards Serbia in 2022 and was part of the squad in Malaga.
Final month in Toronto, Diallo received his first match on the ATP Tour, upsetting world No. 21 Dan Evans in straight units earlier than shedding to the eventual finalist Alex de Minaur in two tight units.
Vasek Pospisil
Rank: 192
Davis Cup Look: twenty fourth
Davis Cup Report: 27-24
2023 Report: 0-2
The brand new Mr. Davis Cup is again for his thirteenth yr as a member of the Canadian Davis Cup group, having participated yearly since 2011 (he made his debut in 2008).
In 2022, the veteran chief of the Canadian squad was Captain Clutch, profitable 4 decisive doubles ties, two within the group stage in Valencia in addition to the quarter-finals and semifinals of the knockout stage in Malaga, to lastly get his arms on the trophy.
Learn additionally: The Historical past of the Davis Cup
Accidents have restricted Pospisil to simply two tour-level matches in 2023 however the man from Vernon, BC shall be hoping {that a} return to Staff Canada is simply what the physician ordered to get his season again on monitor.
Alexis Galarneau
Rank: 200
Davis Cup Look: 4th
Davis Cup Report: 0-2
2023 Report: 0-1
Galarneau was the one member of Staff Canada who was there each step of the best way in the course of the 2022 title run.
He made his Davis Cup debut within the qualifying spherical towards the Netherlands after which was part of the squad on the group stage in Valencia, taking part in doubles with Pospisil towards Serbia, and within the finals in Malaga.
It has been a strong summer time for the Laval native. He received his first ATP Challenger title on residence soil in Granby after which pushed world No. 22 Francisco Cerundolo to 3 units in an epic opening match on the Nationwide Financial institution Open in Toronto.
Canada performs their first tie on Wednesday, Sep. 13 towards Italy. They play Sweden on Thursday, Sep. 14 and wrap up towards Chile on Saturday, Sep. 16. All ties start at 3 p.m. native time, 9 a.m. EDT.
