🏆 Ongoing Tournaments

Hey, Tennis Pro! It's finally Friday!

Canada tames Germany. The intercontinental matchup in Malaga between the canadians and the germans lasted longer than expected. The Toutons put up a fair resistance throughout the engagement that came down to a doubles tie-breaker.

The Germans sent 152nd ATP ranked, 32-year-old Jan Lennard Struff to face 18th-ranked Dennis Shapovalov, 9 years younger. Even though Struff didn't show up with his best serve, he made up for it with a very high 2nd serve conversion rate.

Struff added to the German tab first by knocking out Shapo in a 3rd set tie-break.

Felix Auger-Aliassime came to Canada's rescue by beating Oscar Otte in two straight sets and giving Shapovalov a second shot at redemption, this time via a doubles match.

After losing tragically in the first set to the Germans Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz, Shapovalov and his partner Vasek Pospisil prevailed in the last two sets 6-3/6-3, thus ensuring the return of the Canadian delegation to the Davis Cup semi-finals since 2019.

🏆 Davis Cup: a History of Surfaces

The Davis Cup, with its first edition held in the year 1900, is one of the longest-running tennis events in the world. Over the course of history, the tournament has been repeatedly modified to vary the surface conditions in which the contest is held.

Of the four surfaces on which the Davis Cup has been played, the only one that is no longer in use on tour is the carpet. In the final carpet edition, a confrontation for the championship took place between the Argentine delegation, led by David Nalbandian, and the victorious Russians, lined up under the command of Nikolay Davydenko.

After the carpet, the one that has seen the fewest editions of the Davis Cup is curiously the most used surface on the tour currently, the hard court. This surface, which has only recently been used under the historical terms of the tournament, has witnessed the Serbs become champions, who overcame a French delegation with big names like Gael Monfils or Gilles Simon in the last stage.

Finally, the surface that has been used the most in the Davis Cup is grass, last used in 2003 in the championship year of former Australian No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt. For its part, the most pleasant memories of the United States in the tournament were as well with grass as a surface, clinching two thirds of their titles under these court conditions.

💨 Italy whips USA out of Malaga

For the first time in eight editions of the Davis Cup, Italy qualified for the next-to-last stage of the tournament. Fulfilling its role as favorite, the Italian squad defeated a strengthened delegation from the United States with Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Harry Fritz as leaders. At the end of the day, the Americans ended up missing their compatriot Rajeev Ram, current ATP Finals doubles champion, for the doubles match tiebreaker against the Italians.

In three matches that spanned Sonego's upset victory over Tiafoe as opener, followed by Fritz's resounding victory over Musetti in straight sets, the doubles matchup ended up being the highlight of the night for the Italians and Americans.

With a US pairing of Tommy Paul and Jack Sock both posting negative doubles records this season, the hopes of regaining North American relevance for the Davis Cup were dashed by Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini, who whipped the Americans in two straight sets.

The American delegation returns home with a bad mouth taste and the Italians advance reaffirming their position as favorites for the championship.

🗒️ Daily Results

[Updated 06:00 a.m. GMT]

⏱️ Today’s Order of Play

[Updated 06:00 a.m. GMT]

👋 So long, and thanks for all the tennis!

→ Oscar Otte and Auger-Aliassime gave us this beauty.

→ Big American controversy over at the Davis Cup.

→ Listen to this insight on why is Novak still at the top of the World.

→ Some Tiafoe magic in Malaga.

→ The moment Struff gave Germany semi-finals hope.