Nadal, Spain oust Canada to win Davis Cup

MADRID Denis Shapovalov said he was proud to have played in Canada’s first Davis Cup final although it “sucked” to lose after he succumbed to Rafael Nadal in Madrid’s Magic Box on Sunday.

The 20-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., was handed mission impossible after teammate Felix Auger-aliassime of Montreal was defeated by Roberto Bautista Agut and although he pushed the 19time Grand Slam champion hard, he went down 6-3, 7-6(7) as Spain sealed their sixth title.

Shapovalov was ever-present throughout the week, winning three of his five singles matches and pairing up with Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil to edge a deciding doubles rubber in a thriller against Russia in Saturday’s semifinals.

“I feel like we’ve really come really far as a team, as a nation. Definitely we’re super proud,” Shapovalov, who has risen to 15th in the rankings, told reporters.

“Obviously it sucks, sucks losing in the finals. But I’m super proud of everyone, everyone sitting here, super proud of the people in the background. We’ve put in 120 per cent every single day. So it’s amazing how far we’ve been able to come.”

Shapovalov and Pospisil had effectively been a “two-man team” until Canadian captain Frank Dancevic elected to play the 19-year-old Auger-aliassime on Sunday instead of 150th-ranked Pospisil, who had won three of his four singles matches.

It was a gamble that did not pay off as Auger-aliassime, who has been sidelined by an ankle injury, went down 7-6(3), 6-2.

“It was my decision to make a substitution. But I’d rather not go into details with it,” Dancevic said. “It was my call in the end. I’ll just leave it at that.”

Pospisil would likely have played the doubles rubber but with Spain already up 2-0, it was not to be.

“Of course it’s tough,” he said. “Everybody wants to play. It was double tough obviously that we lost it today.”