MONTREAL, September 27, 2018 (Press Release)
It was on Wednesday that the International Tennis Federation (ITF) held the official draw for the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Qualifying Round. The Canadian Davis Cup team’s opponent is still unknown for the tie scheduled to take place February 1-2. They will await the conclusion of the Europe/Africa Group I second round play-offs. If the nations have not played each other, Canada’s opponent will host the tie. The choice of surface, the site as well as the player nominations will be determined at a later date.
After defeating the Netherlands by a score of 3-1 just a few weeks ago, Canada secured its place in the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Qualifying Round. Despite being the favourite on paper, the Canadian team faced a tricky opponent with some highly ranked players, including Robin Haase (no. 44) as well as two doubles specialists in Jean-Julien Rojer and Matwe Middelkoop, ranked no. 20 and 35 in the doubles rankings, respectively. The victorious Canadian team was made up of Milos Raonic (Thornhill, ON), Denis Shapovalov (Richmond Hill, ON), Vasek Pospisil (Vancouver, BC), Daniel Nestor (Toronto, ON) and Félix Auger-Aliassime (Montreal, QC).
Canada will now take part in the Davis Cup Qualifying Round, hoping to secure a place in the Davis Cup Finals, which will take place in November of 2019. With the new Davis Cup format, the Qualifying Round will oppose 12 seeded nations against 12 unseeded nations, with the winners booking a spot in the final. In their upcoming tie this February, Canada will be the seeded nation thanks to their recent win over the Netherlands. Their opponents will be confirmed after the Europe/Africa Group I second round play-offs, where Portugal will host South Africa on October 19-20 and Slovakia will host Belarus on October 26-27. Canada is currently ranked 17th in the world.
