What does winning Davis Cup mean for Canada? It’s a huge and historic moment—the country’s very first triumph in 109 years.
All the congratulations go to Félix, Shapo, the ever-reliable Vasek Pospisil and, of course, captain Frank Dancevic, who achieved the dream carried for decades by Réjean Genois, Richard Legendre, Sébastien Lareau, Daniel Nestor, Frédéric Niemeyer, Guillaume Marx, Simon Larose, Martin Laurendeau, Jocelyn Robichaud, Alain Beaupré, Glenn Michibata and Grant Connell, Dale Power, Louis Cayer, Yvon Gilbert, Robert Bédard, François Godbout and so many others.
Special kudos to Louis Borfiga, who so successfully created and led the National Tennis Centre presented by Rogers in Montréal, and to Eugéne Lapierre, who built it and found the dollars to fund the programs and infrastructure with the support of TC CEO Michael Downey.
The best of the best
After winning the 2022 ATP Cup in Australia back in January and then doubling down with the Davis Cup crown, Canada is the world no.1 in team tennis.
We all know the month of December is for excellence awards.
The Raptors and the Blue Jays didn’t get very far in their playoffs. Neither did any of the Canadian franchises in the race for the Stanley Cup. So, it makes perfect sense that the Canadian sports team of the year award would go to Tennis Canada.
Consider this an official nomination.
Transcendent Félix
It isn’t Team Canada’s fault that World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz and World No.2 Rafa Nadal are injured, that Novak Djokovic wasted his season with his anti-vaccine stance, that Alexander Zverev had surgery and that Daniil Medvedev was a victim of politics owing to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
And by the way, Félix took all of them down at some point this season. He even dismantled Alcaraz twice, including that time in early Davis Cup action last September.
The debate is closed!
We knew his hot fall streak and three straight European titles would bump Félix up to global elite status. Davis Cup has just confirmed he’ll be there for the long haul.
It’s no longer a question of if but of when he’ll secure his first Slam. But first, we need to secure him the title of Canadian athlete of the year.
A pretty penny
That’s $2.1M for the players and $1M for Tennis Canada.
Guillaume Marx deserves high praise. He’s been around since the very beginning with Louis Borfiga and oversaw Félix’s training as a junior and through his transition to the pro tour. Tennis Canada’s head of performance is among the great builders of the championship team.
Félix, Shapo, Gabriel Diallo and Alexis Galarneau are all about 22 years old. And, at 32, Vasek Pospisil is still in it to win it.
We’re already looking forward to next season and all the seasons to come.
Service break
It was a service break in every sense of the words when the global TV satellite feed was lost during the last match on Sunday. We missed match point and part of the winners’ celebrations.
Félix the prognosticator
“One day, we’ll bring home the big Cup.”
– Félix Auger-Aliassime after winning Junior Davis Cup seven years ago
