Nestor ends Davis Cup career
TORONTO — The final match of Daniel Nestor’s Davis Cup career did not go as planned.
Nestor and partner Vasek Pospisil suffered a four-set loss to Matwe Middelkoop and JeanJulien Rojer of the Netherlands on Saturday afternoon as Canada dropped to a 2-1 lead in their Davis Cup tennis tie. The 46-yearold Nestor has been in the international tennis competition for 25 years, playing in 53 Davis Cup ties, more than double that of any other Canadian.
“I wanted to play one more season and this match was one of the most important of the year for me, and, obviously, I wanted to play better,” a disappointed Nestor said.
“I prepared pretty well for it and I was playing well in practice, but my level’s just not good enough anymore.”
Nestor and Pospisil lost to the Dutch duo 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 4-6 in front of a partisan crowd at Coca-Cola Coliseum, on the Exhibition Place grounds of Nestor’s hometown of Toronto.
“When it was announced that we were playing in September in Toronto, I was really looking forward to it,” Nestor said. “I wanted to win this match.”
Canada earned wins from Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., and Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., Friday night in the first and second singles rubbers.
Raonic dispatched Scott Griekspoor in three sets Sunday to give Canada a 3-1 win over the Netherlands in their Davis Cup world group qualification playoff. Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., beat Griekspoor, 7-6, 6-3, 6-4, for his second win of the five-match tie. The tie earned Canada a seeded position in next year’s Davis Cup world group draw.
The international men’s tennis competition will undergo a format change in 2019 and Canada’s next opponent is not yet known.
After his match, Nestor addressed the crowd, thanking them for their support over the decades. He was inducted into Canada’s Tennis Hall of Fame in a public ceremony on Sunday.
Nestor won eight Grand Slam doubles titles over his lengthy ATP Tour career and won gold for Canada at the 2000 Sydney Olympics with Sébastien Lareau.
“I consider him one of my really good friends, so it’s tough to see him go,” Pospisil said. “It was an honour to be on the court with him. I really wanted to win this with him in his last match. It’s been a pretty fun ride playing with Daniel over the years and I’ll be sad to see him go.”
Nestor’s skill in doubles competition has made him invaluable to Canada over the past quartercentury, almost guaranteeing them a win on the second day of the three-day, five-match Davis Cup draws. He has a team-best 33-13 doubles record and was 15-15 in singles rubbers.