MONTREAL – Tennis Canada announced on Friday that Ontarians Brayden Schnur, Steven Diez, Peter Polansky as well as Laval resident Alexis Galarneau will be the Canadian team for the Davis Cup qualifier against the Netherlands on March 4th and 5th.
The Dutch delegation will bring together Botic van de Zandschulp (50th), Tallon Griekspoor (60th), Robin Haase (250th), Wesley Koolhof (21st in the doubles) and Matwe Middelkoop (27th in the doubles).
The race will be held on dirt in The Hague.
Schnur, who is ranked 239th in the world, will play in the fourth meeting of the Davis Cup. He was also a member of the team in the Madrid Finals and recently won the ATP Cup alongside Félix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov and Diez. Schnur will lead the Canadian corps for the first time.
Diez (268th) will make his third appearance in the Davis Cup and second in a row after defending the colors of Canada in the Finals last November. In 2021, the Torotonian played mainly on the ATP Challenger track and specifically reached the final of an event in Gran Canaria, Spain.
Davis Cup veteran and doubles specialist (162nd in the world), Polansky returns to the Canadian team after participating in the Madrid Finals. Since 2007, he has appeared in 11 Davis Cup matches and has a record of eight wins and seven losses.
Finally, Galarneau, who is 22 years old, will be the leader of the Canadian Davis Cup team. In 2021, the Laval resident, who ranks 375th in the ATP rankings, was successful on the Challenger track, mainly reaching the quarterfinals of the Bogota and Cleveland tournaments. He got the best of Britain’s Liam Broady (124th) this week at the Cleveland Challenger.
“It’s only been a few months since we reached the Davis Cup finals last November, but we are very happy to be representing Canada again against the Netherlands,” said captain Frank Dancevic in a press release.
“The Dutch will definitely be a tough team and we will not have it easy, but we have confidence in Bryden, Steven, Peter and Alexis and we know that they will do everything they can to bring victory to our country. »
A victory for Canada against the Netherlands will earn them a place in the Davis 2022 Cup Final. A defeat will relegate them to World Group 1.
