Team Canada knew they were going to be in for a battle against Brazil in the 2026 Davis Cup Qualifiers First Round in Vancouver.
Gabriel Diallo and Liam Draxl both told the media on Thursday ahead of the tie that they expected tough matches. And that’s pretty much what they got on Friday on the opening day of the tie.
Draxl was able to overcome his opponent, Brazilian No. 1 Joao Lucas Reis da Silva, in a straight-set match full of grinding, physical rallies. But Gabriel Diallo was not so lucky, losing a heartbreaker in a third-set tiebreak against Gustavo Heide.
"The level that we all play at nowadays, everyone is so good. So to get it done somewhat straight-forward as the scoreboard would make it look is a plus, a bonus,” said Draxl of his win during his post-match press conference. “I did a good job of staying ahead. I knew that da Silva is really tough and that he’s not going to go anywhere so that’s why I was really trying to keep my nose ahead and to get those breaks because I knew that he could play some really good tennis.”
On the flip side, Diallo said of his defeat, “There's things that I did well, there's things that he did really well. I think it's just a few details here and there, and in the important moments, I just couldn't find the aggressiveness required to play behind those points. But tomorrow is going to be a great opportunity to bounce back and try to, for my part, provide a better performance.”
The split results set up an intriguing second day in Vancouver as the tie has been reduced to a best-of-three.
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“Obviously, it would have been nice to get the job done and go into tomorrow up to 2-0. But it is what it is. It's still tied up. I'm very confident that we'll get our chances to win the tie,” said Diallo. “But obviously they're now back in the tie. They’re going play better, play harder. So yeah, expecting a battle tomorrow.”
It has been a surprisingly long time since Canada was in this situation. The last time Canada played a best-of-five tie and split the first two singles matches was in 2019, when the Félix Auger-Aliassime-Denis Shapovalov-led team were tied 1-1 after the first day against Slovakia. On that occasion, Team Canada lost the doubles but rallied to win the two singles matches on day two to sneak out a 3-2 win and qualify for the inaugural Davis Cup Finals. Canada went on to reach their first final that year.
There is a decent chance that this year’s Team Canada could find themselves in a similar position as that 2019 team. On paper, Canada is the underdog in doubles, with the experienced pair of Orlando Luz and Rafael Matos for Brazil both holding higher rankings than Draxl and Cleeve Harper and having just reached the Australian Open quarter-finals together.
But Canada would then be favoured in both singles matches, with Diallo and Draxl holding significantly higher rankings than their Brazilian opponents.
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Of course, Diallo was heavily favoured against Heide on Friday. It did not matter.
"It's Davis Cup. It brings out a different emotion for people to play for their country,” explained the Montrealer. There was a time when I played [Lorenzo] Musetti in Italy. I had no business winning that match. But you have to be ready for everything. I was ready for a dog fight today. Unfortunately, it didn't go my way. But tomorrow is another great opportunity.”
Captain Frank Dancevic kept everything in perspective during his end-of-day press conference, saying, “We've been through many of these moments in the past where we've lost tough matches. We come back and we've won ties. So it's part of it. It's part of Davis Cup and it's just getting back, regrouping and coming back tomorrow.”
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Dancevic also pumped up his No. 1 heading into what will be, regardless of the doubles result, a huge singles match for Diallo and Team Canada.
“I always like his chances. He's a great player and he's an unbelievable asset to this team,” said the captain of Diallo. “We need him. Without him, it'd be very difficult. It's an unfortunate loss today, but it's just the way it goes. It's Davis Cup. We've all been there. We've all lost close matches. It's frustrating, of course, when you know you're playing for a country, playing for a team, but it's the nature of the game. So that's that. We regroup and we come back tomorrow.”
Play begins with the doubles at 1 pm PST, 4 pm EST.
CLICK HERE for everything about the 2026 Davis Cup Qualifiers First Round tie in Vancouver.
The Davis Cup returns to Canada in February as Canada hosts Brazil in the Qualifiers First Round in Vancouver, Feb. 6-7 at UBC's Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. Tickets are on sale. Get yours now!
Feature Photo : Sarah-Jade Champagne
