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Captain Frank Dancevic says there’s plenty of unknowns as ninth-ranked Canada prepares to host No. 18 Brazil in this weekend’s Davis Cup Qualifiers first round.
Canada will be led by 24-year-old Gabriel Diallo of Montreal, who is ranked 39th in the world, and Liam Draxl of Newmarket, Ont., who is 146th.
Brazil does not have a have a top-200 singles player in its lineup.
“It’s a challenge because you’re playing an opponent that you don’t the know the feeling of his (serve), how it’s coming, his history,” Dancevic told a media conference Tuesday. “There are different tendencies, different players. Guys can play at a lot higher level than their ranking.
“They can surprise you. Everyone has their own way of playing and their own style.”
Dancevic and his players will be searching the internet for past games played by the Brazilians to learn as much as they can.
“The most control you have is with yourself,” he said. “Prepare yourself the best possible going into the matches and then you can sort of adjust as the matches go along.”
Joining Diallo and Draxl on the Canadian team is Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., Cleeve Harper of Calgary and Nicolas Arseneault of Richmond Hill, Ont. The team has a combined 29 games of Davis Cup experience.
The most experienced player for Brazil is doubles player Rafael Matos, who is making his 10th appearance. The rest of the team — Joao Lucas Reis da Silva, Gustavo Heidi, Matheus Pucinelli De Almeida and Orlando Luz — have a combined 11 games experience.
Brazil’s captain Jaime Oncins doesn’t doubt Canada is the favourite heading into the weekend.
“Sometimes it’s good to be the underdog,” he said. “We have a good team. We’re ready. We have a lot of fight. We’re going to be ready for what’s coming.”
Diallo comes to Vancouver after suffering a first-round loss to Germany’s Alexander Zverev at the Australian Open. Last year was his first full season on tour where he broke into the Top 50, climbing as high as No. 33. He won his first tour-level title on grass at the Libema Open in the Netherlands.
“He’s an incredible player, incredible athlete,” said Dancevic. “He’s found his way on tour and developed big weapons. His athleticism shines on court.
“He’s able to do so much and his level has just been increasing year after year. He’s the leader of the team right now.”
The matches will be played Friday and Saturday at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre at the University of British Columbia.
On Saturday a ceremony will be held to honour Vasek Popisil, the Canadian tennis veteran who recently announced his retirement.
Dancevic said the team competing this weekend represents a changing of the guard in Canadian tennis. Galarneau is the oldest player at 26.
The team will be without world No. 8 Félix Auger-Aliassime and No. 25 Denis Shapovalov, who along with Pospisil were key contributors to Canada’s lone Davis Cup title in 2022.
“They are the next generation of young Canadians coming up,” Dancevic said. “This is the beginning of the new era, the young guys who are going to take over in the future for Team Canada.
“It’s pretty exciting to be part of that.”
The competition will be best-of-five matches, with each match being best-of-three sets.
The winning nation will advance to the Davis Cup Qualifiers Second Round in September against either France or Slovakia. The loser will compete in the World Cup Group I in September.
If the Canadians win this weekend they are guaranteed to host the next tie in a venue yet to be confirmed.
This will be the first meeting between Canada and Brazil since 2007 and the seventh overall. Brazil leads the head-to-head 4-2 and won that most-recent meeting 18 years ago 3-1 on clay in Brazil.
Last year Canada lost to Hungary in the 2025 Qualifiers first round at IGA Stadium in Montreal.
It will be the first time a Davis Cup tie has been played in Vancouver since 2015, when Canada defeated Japan.
“This is a place we always love to play as a team,” said Dancevic. “We always had amazing support. We’re super excited for the weekend.”