Of course, there is that dry loss (0-2) in last Sunday’s Davis Cup final in Malaga in Malaga against Canada, while Australia was dreaming of being successful again in this event. However, it is not the setback against the Canadians that makes the Australians most bitter after that lost final, but the presence of Canada itself. For Todd Woodbridge, a two-time winner of the event, Australia would have been in contention for the title in Spain on Sunday Felix Auger-Aliassime and should never actually meet his compatriots.

And for a good reason. Many may have forgotten, but these Canadians, who won the first Davis Cup in their history at the expense of the Aussies on Sunday in Malaga, could not have been there in the final stages. Why ? Simply because they were eliminated in the playoffs last March. Disadvantaged at the time by its two frontrunners, Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov, Canada, then represented by the very unassuming (not to say unknown) Alexis Gallerneau and Steven Diez, were swept away 4-0 on the court at The Hague by the Netherlands.

“There will always be an asterisk above this victory”

A slap tantamount to elimination for the country with the coat of arms beaten with the maple leaf, which therefore would never have been able to continue its journey definitively without the involuntary push of … Russia, and even less imagine, eight months later, the trophy in the to lift height. After Russian President Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) decided to expel the Russian team and draft Canada.

For Woodbridge, who does not digest this draft system, the ITF should never have made this decision, but only excluded Russia without replacement. “I’m incredibly proud of the Australian team but not of the ITF and Davis Cup committees because there will always be an asterisk above that win for Canada. It livens up the debate about the decision to award wild cards,” the former player posted on Twitter after the Canadians’ success.