Canadian tennis fans have had these dates marked on the calendar for a long time, and the wait is finally over.
The Davis Cup returns to UBC this Friday through Sunday with the promise of world class tennis amidst an electric atmosphere as Canada takes on Japan in this round of 16 tie at Thunderbird Arena. Canada, which is led by two-time Lionel Conacher Award winner and current sixth-ranked player in the world, Milos Raonic, will look to re-create some of the magic from 2013 when Canada last played at UBC and beat Spain and Italy to advance to the semi finals.
Canada's opposition this time around will be the Japanese. Led by the world’s fourth-ranked player, Kei Nishikori, Japan will enter the weekend as the underdogs, but have had recent success against Canada, eliminating an injury-depleted Canadian team at this stage last year in Tokyo. The round of 16 tie will take five total matches, two singles matches will be played on Friday, followed by a doubles match on Saturday and two more singles matches on Sunday, with the winner being the first team to win three matches.
All eyes will be on the marquee matchup of Raonic and Nishikori, where the big-serving Canadian is on the losing end of their 3-2 head-to-head matchup. However, each match has extended beyond straight sets, including most recently a five-set, four-hour marathon at the US Open last year, in which Nishikori prevailed.
Beyond the top 10 clash, there are other intriguing storylines to follow this weekend: Canada’s second-best singles player is Vernon native Vasek Pospisil, who returns home in front of his home fans and will be featured in both singles and doubles matches. As well, 42-year-old doubles specialist and eight-time major champion Daniel Nestor will be in action on Saturday.
On the Japanese side, Nishikori will be joined by Tatsuma Ito and Go Soeda, ranked 85th and 86th in the world, respectively, as well as doubles specialist Yasutaka Uchiyama. While the Japanese might not have the firepower of the Canadian team, this side will provide stiff competition, according to Tennis Canada VP Gavin Ziv.
“Their games aren’t quite as big as the Canadian players’, not as much power, but they hit a very clean ball. Watching them practice the last couple days, they make very few mistakes,” said Ziv. “You have to play really well to beat that kind of a player.”
Despite last year’s loss to Japan, Ziv believes the home court advantage will tip the scales in Canada’s favour.
“When you go on the road you lose the crowd, you lose the choice of surface that you play on, even the type of tennis ball you get to use, and of course the home fans cheering for you,” he said.
The 5,200 seat capacity Thunderbird Arena is expected to be packed all weekend, and the crowd is going to be boisterous to say the least.
“When it’s a full crowd, the fans come out wearing red and white, and they cheer really loudly for team Canada, that makes such a difference,” said Ziv. “If you ask our players, that energy, they feed off of it. Some players like it, some don’t like it, but our team feeds off of that energy.”
“Anytime these guys step on the court it’s fun to watch.”
If you're a student interested in attending the Cup, there is a 20 per cent student discount available on Category 2, 3 and 4 ticket packages.