Tennis Canada -  November 11, 2019 – On Monday, Tennis Canada announced that Milos Raonic (Thornhill, ON) would not be representing Canada at the Davis Cup Finals by Rakuten in Madrid on account of a back injury. In his place, Brayden Schnur (Pickering, ON) will team up with Denis Shapovalov (Richmond Hill, ON), Félix Auger-Aliassime (Montréal, QC) and Vasek Pospisil (Vernon, BC). Held at Caja Magica stadium, the Davis Cup Finals will run from November 18 to 24.

“It is very hard and disapointing for me that I will not be able to represent my country at Davis Cup. My health has continued to let me down through this entire year and now once again. I will take the appropriate time to get healthy and I look forward to being back on court next season” said Raonic. "I believe in my teammates, and I know they’ll give everything to secure Canada’s first Davis Cup title. I’ll be following them very closely and I wish them the best.”
 
Currently ranked World No.94, Brayden Schnur has climbed 100 places in the rankings since the start of the season. The 24-year-old took the tennis world by surprise when he appeared in the final of the New York Open ATP 250 event last February. In his most recent final appearance, he fell to Vasek Pospisil at the Charlottesville Tennis Challenger in Virginia. Schnur will be competing in Davis Cup for the second time in his career. In 2017, he joined the national squad in its World Group play-off tie against India. Despite his two singles losses, Canada managed to secure a 3-2 win. 
 
“I’m very happy to be able to play in the Davis Cup Finals but, of course, I first want to wish Milos a speedy recovery,” affirmed Schnur. “It’s an honour for me to represent Canada in this team competition. We know every win will be hard-won but I’m ready to support my teammates and go all the way.”

The 18 countries that qualified for the Finals are divided into six groups of three nations. Canada is in Group F along with the United States and Italy and will face both in a round robin. It will cross paths with Italy on November 18 and the United States on the following day. The Davis Cup Finals will be played on an indoor hard court surface.
 
The winners of the six groups and two runners-up based on the number of wins and percentage of sets and games won/lost will qualify for the quarterfinals, which get underway on Thursday, November 21. If Canada finishes first in its group, the team will face the winner of Group D. The semifinals will be played on Saturday and the final on Sunday, November 24. Each matchup will consist of two singles matches and a doubles match in a best-of-three format.

The Canadian Davis Cup team qualified for the Finals when it overpowered Slovakia by a score of 3-2 on February 1 and 2, 2019. Shapovalov won both of his singles battles and Auger-Aliassime notched an important win in the decisive match.

For more details, please visit: http://www.tenniscanada.com/team-canada/davis-cup/about-the-davis-cup/.
 
About Davis Cup
Davis Cup by Rakuten is the World Cup of Tennis. It is the largest annual international team competition in sport, with 133 nations entered in 2019. The competition is 119 years old, having been founded in 1900. In 2019, the all-new Davis Cup by BNP Paribas finals will be hosted at the iconic La Caja Magica in Madrid, Spain. Twenty-four nations will contest the Qualifiers on 1-2 February, competing in 12 locations around the world on a home-and-away basis. The 12 winning teams will join the 2018 semifinalists plus two wild card teams in an 18-nation Davis Cup season finale.
 
About Tennis Canada
Founded in 1890, Tennis Canada is a non-profit, national sport association with a mission to lead the growth of tennis in Canada and a vision to become a world-leading tennis nation. We value teamwork, passion, integrity, innovation and excellence. Tennis Canada owns and operates the premier Rogers Cup presented by National Bank WTA and ATP World Tour events and one professional ITF sanctioned event. Tennis Canada also owns and financially supports 13 other professional tournaments in Canada. Tennis Canada operates junior national training centres/programs in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. Tennis Canada is a proud member of the International Tennis Federation, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Paralympic Committee and the International Wheelchair Tennis Association, and serves to administer, sponsor and select the teams for Davis Cup, Fed Cup, the Olympic and Paralympic Games and all wheelchair, junior and senior national teams. Tennis Canada invests its surplus into tennis development. For more information on Tennis Canada please visit our Web site at: www.tenniscanada.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
 
 

 
Media contacts:
 
Valérie Tétreault
Director, Communications and Media Relations, Tennis Canada
514-273-1515, ext. 6259, vtetreault@tenniscanada.com

Victoria Jaklin
Coordinator, Communications and Media Relations, Tennis Canada
514-273-1515, ext. 6291, vjaklin@tenniscanada.com

Oliver Wheeler
Coordinator, Communications, Tennis Canada
514-665-9777, ext. 4545, owheeler@tenniscanada.com