TENNIS

Canada beats Australia to make tennis history and hoist Davis Cup for the first time

The Canadian men have excelled in team-format competition in recent years, beginning with their surprise run to the final of the first “new-format” Davis Cup in 2019.

They were defeated by the far more experienced Spanish team there.

But Félix Auger-Aliassime was just 19 then; Denis Shapovalov just 20.

Last January down in Australia, Canada won the ATP Cup, a new team competition with a similar format that featured even more of the world’s best players.

And on Sunday, it won the ultimate prize.

Auger-Aliassime didn’t commit to the preliminary final rounds in September until after a surprise early elimination at the U.S. Open a couple of weeks beforehand.

But he made the date and led Canada to qualification, without which Sunday would never have been possible.

He and Vasek Pospisil had to get it done without Shapovalov, who didn’t play.

Pospisil, 32 and a decade older than the team’s young stars, has always answered the call of his country. And on some occasions before their rise to prominence, he basically lifted the entire team on his shoulders and carried it to victory.

The return of Shapovalov to the fold for the final stages allowed Pospisil to focus on the doubles and gave Canada two top-25 singles players.

And Canada took full advantage of teams that were missing key elements.

Germany did not have Olympic gold medalist Alexander Zverev, who has been out with injury since June. Italy was missing its top two singles players: Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini. And notably, Nick Kyrgios was not in the lineup for Australia. He is that country’s highest-ranked player in both singles and doubles.

So Canada boasted one of the best one-two singles punches in the event, and backed that up to become world champions.