Team Canada presented by IGA is going to lean heavily on their star player this weekend in Quebec City.
The draw for the Davis Cup Qualifiers Second Round tie between Canada and France was revealed Thursday morning, with world No. 5 Félix Auger-Aliassime nominated to play both singles and doubles for the hosts.
Liam Draxl will serve as Canada’s No. 2 singles player, while Duncan Chan will make his Davis Cup debut in the doubles alongside Auger-Aliassime.
Arthur Rinderknech and Quentin Halys were nominated to play singles for France, while Benjamin Bonzi and Pierre-Hugues Herbert will team up in doubles.
This week’s tie is best-of-five matches, with each nation’s No. 1 singles player pitted against the opponent’s No. 2 on Friday. Doubles will lead off play on Saturday followed by at least one singles. The No. 1 singles players will meet on Saturday, with the potential fifth match being between the No. 2s. If the result of the tie is decided after four matches, the final singles match may not be played. Nominations can also change prior to the start of play.
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Draxl will lead off the tie for Canada against French No. 1 Rinderknech. It will be a first meeting between the two men. During Canada’s Qualifiers First Round tie with Brazil in February, Draxl also played the first match for Canada and scored the opening point for the hosts.
“I'm excited to play the first match of the of the tie,” said Draxl during Team Canada’s press conference after the draw was made. “I'm excited go out there and complete and bring a lot of energy and thrive off this amazing crowd that’s come show up for Canada. I'm just going to go for it and and see where it takes me.”
It will be a fourth meeting between Auger-Aliassime and Halys, with the Canadian winning the previous three, all on hard courts. They met twice in 2025, with Auger-Aliassime rallying from a set down to win both times. Those two meetings were both outdoors. They met once indoors in 2024, with the Canadian winning in straight sets on Halys’ home soil in Marseille.
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During France’s press conference, Halys said he felt no pressure going into the match. When asked about the Frenchman’s quote, Auger-Aliassime said, “We both want the same thing, we want to win. Quentin is a really good opponent. We’ve played a few times and they are always complicated matches so I’m going to need my best tennis. The pressure is a bit more on my shoulders than on his but that’s something normal in these situations.”
Doubles will lead off the action on Saturday, pitting Auger-Aliassime and Davis Cup rookie Chan against Bonzi and five-time Grand Slam doubles champion Herbert. It will be the first time Auger-Aliassime and Chan have teamed up.
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“The vibes are high. I enjoy playing doubles with him,” said Chan of getting ready for doubles with his new partner. “I think just having him serve while I’m volleying is really nice. It's very comfortable and I think we will be a good pair. I think we're pretty comfortable and the vibes are high.”
Chan will be competing in his first match for Team Canada in Davis Cup competition. He is coming into the event fresh off a quarter-final run in doubles at the National Bank Open in Montreal with Alexis Galarneau. He also finished the 2025-26 NCAA tennis season ranked No. 3 in DI in doubles.
Auger-Aliassime has a 4-1 record in Davis Cup doubles, with that lone loss coming way back in his debut tie in 2019.
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The battle of No. 1s in the second match on Saturday will be a fourth meeting between Auger-Aliassime and Rinderknech, with all three of their meetings taking place in 2025. The Canadian leads the head-to-head 2-1, securing wins in Mallorca on grass and in Cincinnati on hard courts. However, the Frenchman won the last meetings at the Masters 1000 event in Shanghai on hard courts.
If it comes down to the fifth and final match, Draxl will once again look to play the hero like he did during Canada’s tie in February with Brazil. Draxl and Halys have played once before, earlier this year in the first round of the Masters 1000 event in Miami. Halys won that match in three sets.
For fans wondering what to expect from the Centre Videotron over the coming days, Auger-Aliassime spoke a bit about the playing conditions inside what is going to be a jam-packed arena.
“[The court] is a bit faster than what we're experiencing on tour, even in the indoor tournaments in the last few years. It reminds me a bit of the first year I played in Paris Bercy indoors. It was a bit of a quicker surface. I think it suits our games. Not just mine, all the players here sitting here. I think it's good for our game,” explained the Canadian No. 1.
"That's the beauty of the Davis Cup. You can choose the surface. The host gets to choose the environment, the stadium, the surface. I think we have the best conditions for us to play well and to win with a full stadium supporting us and with a surface that suits our game. So now it's our job to go out there and deliver.”
Play begins on Friday at 5:00 pm EDT.
CLICK HERE for everything you need to know about the Davis Cup Qualifiers Second Round tie in Quebec City between Canada and France.
The Davis Cup is coming to Quebec City September 18 and 19 as Team Canada hosts France in the Davis Cup Qualifiers Second Round. Tickets are on sale now. CLICK HERE TO BUY YOUR TICKETS!
Feature Photo: Mathieu Belanger
