October 30, 2024

Open Court

MORE TENNIS THAN YOU'LL EVER NEED

Auger-Aliassime, Fernandez, Andreescu and Fichman to make Olympic debuts on six-player Canadian squad

It’s the day.

The tennis nominations for the Tokyo Olympics are due.

And while Australia got a head start by virtue of being hours and hours ahead of the rest of us, Tennis Canada announced its nominations Tuesday morning.

On the men’s side, Félix Auger-Aliassime and Vasek Pospisil will represent.

On the women’s side, Bianca Andreescu and Leylah Fernandez will play singles.

Pospisil and Auger-Aliassime are good to go, qualified for the men’s doubles.

Gabriela Dabrowski (at No. 12) and Sharon Fichman (at No. 28) also qualified by ranking to play doubles.

From what the press release says, they “will be Canada’s main duo in the women’s doubles competition”.

It’s unclear how much input the players themselves had in terms of the doubles – or whether that means Canada might field a second team.

Third Games for Pospisil

It’s the third Olympics appearance for Pospisil, who was also in London in 2012 and in Rio in 2016.

(We’ll spare you the canned press-release quotes from the players).

(Obligatory caveat: Prior to being named to the final Canadian Tokyo 2020 Team, all nominations are subject to approval by the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Team Selection Committee following its receipt of nominations by all National Sport Federations. Bla bla bla. )

Davis Cup captain Frank Dancevic and Billie Jean King Cup captain Heidi el Tabakh will also make the trip.

The tennis event takes place from July 24 to Aug. 1.

There’s certainly a possibility Andreescu and Auger-Aliassime could squeeze into the 16-team mixed doubles.

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