Davis Cup: Todd Woodbridge - "Canada should never have been in the final"
Former Australian doubles specialist Todd Woodbridge doesn't want Team Canada to win this year's Davis Cup - and with good reason.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit: Dec 01, 2022, 03:28 pm
Team Canada celebrated exuberantly conquering the Davis Cup trophy in Málaga, Andalusia - certainly also because it was their first full triumph in the biggest team competition that the men's tennis world has to offer. The men around team captain Frank Dancevic showed a strong performance in southern Spain, especially Felix Auger-Aliassime was an absolute guarantor of points in the crucial moments of the knockout phase.
However, if former Australian doubles legend Todd Woodbridge had its way, Canada should never have made it to the Davis Cup finals. Because in the qualifying duel for the group phase in March against the Netherlands, the North Americans lost 4-0 to the Netherlands, who in turn were eliminated in the finals in the quarter-finals against Australia.
"Does not have the same value"
Denis Shapovalov & Co. only made it into the group phase because Russia as a team (and with them the Belarusians) was banned from all international tennis competitions due to the war of aggression against Ukraine. The East Slavic nation would have been set for the group stage in September due to the Davis Cup triumph in 2021.
The space that was freed up as a result went to the Canadians, who had two well-deserved top players in their ranks in Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov and had success in the ATP Cup. All in all, an unnatural situation for Woodbridge: "I'll look like a bad loser, but I don't care. Canada should never have been in the final."
"They lost in April and then got a second chance to play this event. You don't win the Davis Cup with a second chance, they have to try again next year," said the 51-year-old. "If you change the rules in the middle of the year, it doesn't have the same value as before."