Michael Jordan said, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” Jordan’s iconic phrase serves to briefly summarize the current Canadian tennis scene. Leaders as a group, not capable alone. They are the current Davis Cup champions and winners of the ATP Cup in 2022, driven by youngsters Felix-Auger Aliassime (23 years) and Denis Shapovalov (24 years) in singles and a veteran in doubles like Vasek Pospisil (33) . . There is a good base in the Canadian Tennis Association and large investments and infrastructure were the cause of the first salad bowl in the North American country. The contrast is significant for the remainder of the season, however, as the same team champions are diluted as they go their separate ways at pro level.
The Canadian team caused the upset and won their first Davis Cup in Malaga after beating Australia in the final with individual wins by Shapovalov and Aliassime. Kokkinakis and De Minaur could easily get rid of the two references from Canada. Reaching the doubles in the final was not necessary, but the semifinals against Italy and the quarterfinals against Germany were decisive. In both qualifiers, Vasek Pospisil, a doubles expert, was needed to tip the scales in favor of the North American country. The team led by Frank Dancevic is the best example of how to manage individual qualities for the benefit of the group.
This connection in Davis has nothing to do with what is observed in the ATP circuit. The best example was witnessed this week in Canada itself, which has become the world tennis capital, where the men play in Toronto and the women in Montreal, since the two tournaments alternate between the two cities. In both places, their players have not lived up to expectations. In Toronto, the week’s big hope was again Felix Auger Aliassime, who made his country debut on the same day as his birthday, and Australia’s Max Purcell (ranked 78) was responsible for disrupting the party with direct serves (double 6- 4). For Canadian fans watching the Montreal tennis player not lift his head in an irregular year, the loss was a pitcher of cold water. “I have to be a man, go out on the track and do my best without fear of losing,” lamented an Aliassime with a 13-win-13-loss streak in 2023. Denis Shapovalov has the same record that who didn’t was able to play the tournament even after being sidelined with a left knee injury. Unlucky for his Davis partner, Pospisil, who lost in the first round to Italy’s Arnaldi (doubles 6-4). The big three figures of Davis Cup winners Canada no longer appear in the men’s singles draw; Only the old Raonic rocker holds out and another Canadian promise: Gabriel Diallo, who defeated Dan Evans (7-6 and 7-5) in his first match at the circuit.
During her stay in Montreal, host Bianca Andreescu, winner of the US Open in 2019 but whose career was marred by injuries, also lost to Italian Giorgi (6-3 and 6-2) in the first round. Only Leylah Fernandez remains in contention; The 20-year-old tennis player is the prime example of a rise that is as fleeting as his fall. The young Canadian tennis player, with no prior experience and against all odds, reached the final of the 2021 Us Open. Although she didn’t beat the New York great, she was close to the top 10 at just 18, along with Britain’s Emma Raducanu, champion of this edition, whose descent in the rankings was similar to that of the Canadian tennis player. Both couldn’t give in to the pressure; Leylah is 81st while Raducanu has dropped out of the top 100 due to injury.
Shapovalov and Aliassime: wanting and not being able
Both Aliassime and Shapovalov have similar stories. Both were Junior Davis Cup champions in Madrid in 2015. Since then, the spotlight has been on the two young Canadians who were seen as the future of tennis in the short and medium term. Shapovalov was the first to enter the scene; His great serve and left-footed one-handed backhand, unusual for the new generation, made him a rising star, even more so when he defeated Nadal aged just 18 in 2017, coincidentally at the Canadian Masters. This young left-hander with strong character and great technique made it into the top 10. With more highlights than results (a single title in Stockholm in 2019, No. 23 in the rankings), ‘Shapo’ continues to struggle to establish itself in the place that he should reach.
Auger Aliassime’s prognosis was and is more promising than Shapovalov’s. In 2019, at age 18, he became the youngest top-25 player since Hewitt in 1999, until a certain Carlos Alcaraz came along, breaking all records for precocity. In fact, before the rise of the Murcian, the Canadian was considered the great successor of world tennis, having seen how Tsitsipas, Thiem, Zverev or Medvedev continued to be inferior to the Big-3. Aliassime had everything to bring about change, he had the game (great serve, good forehand and Djokovic’s own elasticity) and the hunger to beat anyone (he’s beaten Nadal, Federer, Alcaraz, Tsitsipas and Zverev, among others). Less spirited than his compatriot Shapovalov, but too cold to secure the big titles. Semifinalist at the US Open 2021, he reached the quarterfinals in Wimbledon in the same year and also in Australia in 2022. Perhaps the problem of the Montreal tennis player was not him, he has reached the number six in the world and is currently in eleventh place, but the appearance of three young people ready to change everything, like Alcaraz, Sinner and Rune. Not even the arrival of Toni Nadal on his bench prevented a generational change that did not wait for Aliassime.
Canada never excelled in their player production until they billed Milos Raonic’s bomber. A born server who, thanks to his 1.96m height, reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon and Australia, both in 2016. However, injuries weighed on him and he is close to saying goodbye to the places despite retiring at this Canadian Masters resists. Since then, he has chosen to spearhead the rise of great promises. This is how Aliassime, Shapovalov, Andreescu or Leylah Fernández came out. A squad of players who, while not producing the expected individual results, managed to create a team atmosphere that won them the Davis Cup in November. The next challenge will not only be to defend the title, but also to transfer the aura that inspired them to lift the first salad bowl to their respective individual careers.
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