As a player and captain for Team Canada presented by IGA, Frank Dancevic has been a lot of places for Davis Cup ties over his 24 years in the competition. But Quebec City has never been one of them.
In fact, not a single member of Team Canada this week at the Davis Cup Qualifiers Second Round was born yet the last time Canada hosted a Davis Cup tie in the capital of La Belle Province back in 1974. Dancevic was born in 1984, all four players were born in the 21st century.
Adding another city to his Davis Cup resume is something Dancevic is looking forward to.
“We are super excited to be here. It's always incredible playing at home, having the home crowd, and I've heard that this is to date the biggest stadium we've ever played in at home. So that's very exciting for us,” Dancevic told media in his pre-event press conference on Tuesday. “We've played in front of some rowdy crowds that have helped us out in Canada, but this being the biggest stadium, we're hoping for a lot of crowd support and we're really looking forward to it.”
For many fans at Centre Videotron this week, this will be their first chance to experience Davis Cup. Dancevic is looking forward to going through this new experience with the crowd.
The captain’s request for any new fans attending on Friday and Saturday: “We need all the energy and all the support that we can get. Every point.”
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“New” is a bit of a theme for Team Canada this week. It is a fairly fresh lineup, with only one member of the team having participated in Davis Cup for Canada over the last two years, that being Liam Draxl. Two members of the squad, Duncan Chan and Keegan Rice, earned their first nominations for this tie.
“I love having new guys come on a team,” Dancevic said of his new recruits, Chan and Rice. “They’re college guys, Keegan and Duncan. I've been following them for years. These guys are the next generation of young guys coming up and for me as a captain, it's great to see the depth that we have. We have these young guys that are coming from different avenues. So yeah, it's great. The guys have a lot of skill sets, singles, doubles, so looking forward to having them as part of the team here.”
Of course, Félix Auger-Aliassime is not “new” to Team Canada, although it has been a while since he donned the red and white. The local favourite last suited up for his country exactly two years ago in the Finals Group Stage (under a previous tournament format) in September 2024 in Manchester. Auger-Aliassime has never played a Davis Cup match on home soil in his career.
Still, having a veteran like Auger-Aliassime is huge for such a young team.
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“It’s a balancing act. Teams change all the time. There are years when we have more experienced players. Félix is our number one, he has a lot of experience. We’ve gone through big challenges like winning the Davis Cup title. So he is a great role model for the young players joining the team,” explained Dancevic.
“He has already done a great job setting an example. How do we do things on Team Canada, how do we prepare mentally and physically. And he’s a guy who really embraces being a role model. He gives a good example to the young guys and they look up to him on ways to get better during the week.”
And it won’t just be in practice that Auger-Aliassime gets to lead his new teammates by example. Barring any unexpected circumstances, the lone Quebecois member of the team will be Canada’s No. 1 singles player on Friday and Saturday.
Read also: Félix Auger-Aliassime - “I Like to Play for Something Bigger than Myself”
“He’s definitely going to play singles. I think I would lose my job as captain if I didn’t start him in singles,” Dancevic said with a laugh.
The draw for the tie will be made on Thursday, with matches taking place on Friday and Saturday.
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Feature Photo: Mathieu Belanger
