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BOLOGNA, WEDNESDAY — Canada is the top team for the first time in the 2022 Davis Cup men’s team tennis championship. Their bid to defend their title began with victories by university-level players.

This victory even came against Italy, who were one of the hosts of the Davis Cup final group stage, previously known as the World Group. The group stage, which took place from September 12 to 17, featured 16 teams divided into four groups and took place in Italy, Spain, Croatia and England. Canada and Italy compete against two other teams, Chile and Sweden in Group A.

The 16 participants played with the format round robin the best team from each group having the right to participate in the knockout stage from the quarter-finals. This phase will take place in Malaga, Spain, from November 21 to 26.

Canada begins its title defense effort against Italy at the Unipol Arena in Bologna on Wednesday (13/9/2023) local time or Thursday (14/9/2023) early morning Indonesian time. They beat Italy 3-0 in two singles and one doubles matches.

Alexis Galarneau, Gabriel Diallo give Canada 2-0 lead with wins straight sets about professional tennis players ranked much higher than them. Galarneau, ranked 200th in the world, beat Lorenzo Sonego (ranking 38th) with a score of 7-6 (8), 6-4, while Diallo (158) won against Lorenzo Musetti (18) 7-5, 6-4. Canada’s victory was completed by the duo Galarneau/Vasek Pospisil who defeated Matteo Arnaldi/Simone Bolleli 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3).

Galarneau and Diallo also competed on the professional stage, but it wasn’t long before they took a different path than most professional tennis players in general. The 24- and 21-year-old players have chosen to become college tennis players. Galarneau played for North Carolina State University, while Diallo played for the University of Kentucky.

Nor were they intimidated by the noisy atmosphere of the 8,000 local spectators, including the sound of drums, who came to support Musetti and his friends.

Although they have little experience in the tough competition of the professional world, they both played solidly. Nor were they intimidated by the noisy atmosphere of the 8,000 local spectators, including the sound of drums, who came to support Musetti and his friends.

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“I told Alexis that we are college players who have to play at this level. However, we are used to situations like this. “In university competitions, the atmosphere can be even tougher,” Diallo told the official Davis Cup website.

Diallo said spectators at NCAA tournaments number about a thousand people, but they can intimidate athletes at closer distances. “They learn about the athletes’ journeys and then speak directly to our families. “The crowd here of course supports the Italian tennis player, but they also respect the opponent,” declared the tennis player who created a surprise by beating Daniel Evans (21st) in the first round of the ATP Masters 1000 in Toronto.

Without the support of the 14th ranked tennis player in the world, Félix Auger-Aliassime, who helped Canada become Davis Cup champion in 2022, Canada had to look for another player to accompany Denis Shapovalov. Team captain Frank Dancevic also gave Diallo and Galarneau a chance.

“I am very grateful to the captain of our team. He gave me confidence to be part of this team. “I’m going to reward that with hard work,” Galarneau said.

Sonego respected Galarneau. Sonego even said that Galarneau’s performance might be his best performance. “He fought from the first to the last point,” Sonego said.

Musetti also praised Diallo for his ability to handle all the pressure. “He was very focused from the start of the match. Services are difficult to render, including the second service which can reach speeds of 190 kilometers per hour. He deserves to win,” said Musetti, who reached the fourth round of the 2021 and 2023 French Open as the best result in the professional arena.

Canada plays its second match on Thursday against Sweden, who lost 0-3 to Chile in their opening match. Italy will face Chile on Friday.

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The other hosts, namely Spain, lost in Group C and Croatia in Group D. Without their best player, Carlos Alcaraz, Spain lost 0-3 against the Czechs, while Croatia was defeated by the United States 1-2.

In Group B, hosts Great Britain beat Australia 2-1, while France beat Switzerland 3-0. (AFP)