Top stars absent as Canada takes on Netherlands in Davis Cup qualifier

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It’s never fair when you refer to hard-working professional tennis players as second choices.

But the reality is that Canada has two top players in Félix Auger-Aliassime (No. 9) and Denis Shapovalov (No. 12).

It has two veteran players with illustrious resumés in Vasek Pospisil and Milos Raonic.

And none of them are on the squad that will head to the Hague, Netherlands on March 4 and 5 to play the Dutch in a Davis Cup qualifier.

Just two months after Canada’s impressive victory in the ATP Cup, the Davis Cup squad will be missing its best assets.

The team that will face the Netherlands will be led by Brayden Schnur, joined by Steven Diez, Peter Polansky and newcomer Alexis Galarneau.

Schnur is ranked No. 239, Diez No. 268, Polansky No. 282 and Galarneau No. 375.

The Dutch will counter with Botic van de Zandschulp (No. 50), Tallon Griekspoor (No. 60), veteran Robin Haase and doubles specialists Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop (ranked No. 21 and No. 27, respectively.

Auger-Aliassime, Shapovalov and Pospisil also all were absent in December when Canada defended its 2019 finals finish at the Davis Cup finals.

Raonic, whose ranking dropped out of the top 100 this week for the first time in 11 years, remains injured and off the tour.

Here’s the official quote from captain Frank Dancevic.

“It’s only been a few weeks since we played in the Davis Cup Finals last November, but we’re very happy to be representing Canada again, versus the Netherlands. The Dutch are a very tough team to beat and it won’t be easy, but we believe in Brayden, Steve, Peter and Alexis, and we know they’ll fight hard to give Canada the win.”

Leader Schnur struggling in ’22

Schnur has been having a tough time of it so far in 2022, winless in four outings. He played one match at the ATP Cup in Sydney, replacing Shapovalov (who wasn’t ready for the first tie after isolating for COVID upon arrival in Australia). That was a loss to John Isner.

Schnur also was defeated in his first-round qualifying match at the Australian Open, losing to Thiago Tirante of Australia.

Last week, he lost in the first round of the Columbus Challenger to Jurij Rodionov of Austria.

And this week at a similar Challenger in Cleveland, he ran into No. 8 seed Jack Sock in the first round, losing in three sets. Sock then retired after winning just two of the first 10 games of his second-round match against Michael Mmoh.

No singles action for Diez

Diez hasn’t played singles at all yet in 2022.

The Spanish-Canadian was a late add to the ATP Cup squad (without him, they might not have had a team at all – and they ended up winning the whole thing. Diez wasn’t even ranked high enough to get into the Australian Open qualifying; he literally travelled all the way to Australia just for that).

Diez saw action only once in Sydney, in doubles. He has yet to play a singles match in 2022.

Peter Polansky also didn’t make the initial qualifying cut down under. He began his season only last week in Columbus, losing in the second round of qualifying to Sebastian Fanselow, ranked No. 348. This week in Cleveland, he lost in the first round of qualifying to Roberto Quiroz, ranked No. 380.

Polansky is the team’s highest-ranked doubles player at No. 162.

Rookie Galarneau in good form

Of all the players, rookie Alexis Galarneau is in the best form.

Galarneau lost in the second round of qualifying in his 2022 debut in Columbus last week.

But this week, he qualified, defeated No. 124 Liam Broady (an in-form player who qualified at the Australian Open) in the second round, and is playing the quarterfinals Friday against Mmoh.

The winner of this tie gets to return to the 2022 Davis Cup Finals.

The loser is relegated to group qualifying.

Top players taking a pass

With the topnotch talent on the men’s side of the game in Canada, and that finals appearance in 2019 and the expectation that the country would compete for that title for years to come, that prospect is discouraging at best.

It comes on the heels of Bianca Andreescu and Leylah Fernandez – Canada’s two top-ranked female players – taking a pass on the Billie Jean King Cup finals last November.

Exclusive: Fernandez joins Andreescu on BJK Cup finals sidelines

The schedule isn’t great – the weekend before the start of Indian Wells.

But both Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov will be among the 32 seeds, and therefore will have a first-round bye and wouldn’t be expected to play until the following weekend.

In Pospisil’s case, at No. 121 this week, he’s likely about 10 spots out of the Indian Wells main draw. And so he would have to be in the desert early in the week to play the qualifying.

Long story short, the top players are, for various reasons, thoroughly uninterested in playing Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup at this point.

And given this was supposed to be a golden era of Canadian tennis, those are years Canada won’t get back. There’s no way to predict the future.

If they lose, the Group I ties will be played in September – right after the US Open and a long, hot summer that includes three Grand Slams within a three-month period, plus the National Bank Cup.

With the understanding that a tennis career is short, and that it’s an individual game and the players have to look out for their own interests – because if they don’t, who will? – it remains disappointing.

As much as the ITF’s selling out of the Davis Cup to KOSMOS desecrated the historic event, the notion that players no longer would have to commit four weeks a year to trying to win the Davis Cup was, at least, supposed to ensure that the best players played.

At least in Canada, that hasn’t happened.

On the plus side, the four players selected will earn some cash, which will help them with their expenses in 2022. And with the TV broadcast, they’ll at least get some exposure.