Davis Cup 2019 final: Canada v Spain – live updates!

Roberto Bautista-Agut before the final:

“It’s gonna be amazing to play the final with our crowd. Happy with the situation of the team, happy about the effort of my teammates and hope to enjoy the final. If we can, we will take the win.”

The players are coming out. Felix Auger-Aliassime in his pre-match interview:

“It’s unbelievable. It’s historic for my part. My ankle has been great for the past week. I’ve been on the sideline and ready to go all week.”

The new edition of the Davis Cup is partly run by Gerard Pique, so it should come as no surprise that Shakira is currently performing in the closing ceremony before the final. Play will begin shortly.

The nominations are and we have a big shock. 19 year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime has been drafted in for his very first match of the week, replacing Vasek Pospisil. Pospisil has been incredible for Canada this week, winning his first three singles matches and leading the doubles team, but he did look quite exhausted in his 6-4 6-4 loss to Andrey Rublev yesterday. He also hurt his shin after colliding with the net post in doubles.

Auger-Aliassime will face Roberto Bautista Agut who, as expected, will compete for the first time since his father passed away this week.

If needed, Pospisil will likely to return to the court for the doubles.

Hello! Welcome to our coverage of the title match of the Davis Cup Finals in Madrid. After all the arguments and discussion about the new era of this historic competition, this has been some week. There have been organisational issues, matches finishing past 4am, half-empty stadiums and plenty of valid criticisms of this abbreviated format, but the biggest takeaway is that tennis is tennis regardless of where it is played. As long as the core scoring system remains intact and the players care enough to produce their best, this sport is always going to be exciting and desperately tense.

Few days of tennis this year have been as tense as yesterday’s semi-finals, where Canada recovered from 0-1 down to vanquish Russia. First Denis Shapovalov edged out a three set win over Karen Khachanov, then Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil defeated Khachanov and Andrey Rublev in an excruciating third set tiebreak.

Last night’s tie between Great Britain and Spain produced three straight sets matches but somehow the stakes felt even higher, even more desperate, with Nadal almost single-handedly dragging Spain into the final. After Kyle Edmund’s solid win over Feliciano Lopez, Nadal blitzed Dan Evans and then carried a struggling Lopez into the final with an incredible win over Neal Skupski and Jamie Murray 7-6(3) 7-6(8). In a year that Nadal won two Grand slams and finished as the oldest ever ATP year end number one, few moments have impressed as much as the way he saved Great Britain’s set points in the second set tiebreak.

So, here we are. The Spanish team was decimated yesterday after Lopez was forced to step in following the tragic death of Roberto Bautista Agut’s father and injuries ruled out Pablo Carreno Busta and Marcel Granollers. We still await the official nominations but there are rumours that No 9 Bautista Agut, who returned to support his teammates yesterday from the bench, could return to the court today. The clear priority is his mental health, but if he does feel okay to play, it will clearly tip the scales heavily in Spain’s favour.

Across the net, Canada have played with only two players this week, Denis Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil, and they have been spectacular. They will almost certainly rely on their two heroes again as they contest their first ever Davis Cup final. What a breakthrough year this has been for Canadian tennis, from their first ever Grand Slam champion in Bianca Andreescu to their rising stars on the ATP. A victory would be the perfect way to end it.