“Competition is flawed”, Lleyton Hewitt slams the Davis cup format after losing to Canada in the final
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Lleyton Hewitt criticises the Davis Cup organisers
Lleyton Hewitt, former Australian World No.1 and captain of the Australian Davis Cup team has slammed the new format of the Davis cup after losing to Canada in the finals. Davis cup was won by Canada for the first time in history as they took an unassailable 2-0 lead against Australia. this also meant that the doubles match which was scheduled as the decider became obsolete.
Hewitt was pointing at the issues of the format in which the doubles team will not even get a chance to prove for themselves if both the singles games are lost, like what happened in the final. He pointed out the example of Dutch world No.1 doubles player Wesley Koolhof who did not get a chance to participate as the Netherlands lost both their singles against Australia in the quarters a week back.
As quoted by him, “Everyone already knows my feelings about this format. Seeing what happened this week, I feel sorry for the pair of doubles from the Netherlands, for example. One of the best in the world and who could not participate in a single point.“
He went on to talk about the flaws in the system and how the historic tennis tournament is not conducted in the way it should, “They came after doing a great job before and in the so-called ‘final’ they couldn’t play. The concept of competition is flawed and no one is listening. We only put patches, but we did not find real solutions to the problems of the Davis Cup” (Translated via google, source: We love Tennis)
Canada made Davis cup history
Canada ended their drought in the tennis world cup as they beat Australia 2-0. Both of the single matches were one-sided affairs as Denis Shapovalov defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-2,6-4 followed by Felix Auger Aliassime‘s run over Alex De Minaur 6-3,6-4. Shapovalov was clinical from start to finish, as he was broken only once in the entire match. Kokkinakis, who is ranked number 95 in the singles ranking, was not able to match up with the power of the Canadian World No.18.
Felix Auger Aliassime vs Alex De Minaur was a bit more competitive match compared to the first singles, but Felix kept his mentality up on saving 8 break points and stopping the Australian World No.24’s chances of getting a breakthrough. As a result, the Canadian world No.6 was not even broken once in the entire match.
Almost the same Canadian team lost in the Davis Cup finals 2019 against arguably the greatest Davis cup player Rafael Nadal‘s Spain (0-2). Shapovalov lost the singles against Nadal in the opening match that year, so this victory would have felt extra sweet for the Canadians and especially for Shapovalov.
The United States of America is the most successful team in Davis cup history with 32 wins. Second is Australia, which dominated the tournament in the 1950s and 1960s with 15 wins in 18 years. Their overall tally is 28 wins. France and Great Britain share the third spot with 10 wins. Russia won the latest 2021 edition.
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Vipul Payattuparambil
(552 Articles Published)