Lleyton Hewitt’s group are glad to play the position of underdogs with a chunk within the Davis Cup ultimate towards Canada – and can take inspiration from watching the Socceroos do the identical on the World Cup.
The Australians lastly discovered on Saturday night who their opponents can be within the Malaga showdown, after Felix Auger-Aliassime powered the Canadians to a last-four triumph with two immaculate victories within the 2-1 win over Italy.
So on Sunday (Monday AEDT), Hewitt’s males can be as soon as once more be up towards a group who can be favourites to beat them – and that is simply the best way the outdated battler likes it.
“Canada have got firepower … we knew we were the underdogs coming into the tie against Croatia and we like being in that position. It’s a place I really enjoyed as a player and and now as a captain,” mentioned Hewitt.
On Saturday morning, earlier than getting right down to ultimate follow for Australia’s first Davis Cup ultimate in 19 years, Hewitt and his group had been in a position to take inspiration from gathering spherical a TV and watching the Socceroos beat Tunisia 1-0 in Qatar.
In a means, these two world championship outfits are minimize from the identical fabric, made up largely of unsung scrappers who seem to play above themselves when draped within the inexperienced and gold.
And Hewitt’s males should do the identical in Sunday’s showdown towards a power-packed facet led by 22-year-old Auger-Aliassime, who seems to be within the type of his younger life.
In their semi-final, the Italians, even with out their two star singles gamers Matteo Berrettini and Jannik Sinner, took the early lead when Lorenzo Sonego loved a marathon upset 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 win over leftie Denis Shapovalov.
But Auger-Aliassime, the top-ranked participant in the entire finals event at No.6, responded by dismantling Lorenzo Musetti 6-3 6-4 – remarkably, his nineteenth win in his final 22 matches.
In one other doubles decider for the 2 groups, the Italians then prompted a shock by going with Berrettini, who’d been nursing a foot drawback, to associate veteran cavalier Fabio Fognini, whereas the Canadians additionally made a late change, asking Auger-Aliassime to group up with Vasek Pospisil.
This got here after Shapovalov had wanted a medical time-out for a again drawback throughout his defeat by Sonego – however the world No.18 was adamant he could be good to go within the ultimate.
“Actually I feel pretty good,” mentioned Shapovalov, who’s misplaced each his singles matches this week. “I’m going to do everything I can tomorrow to try to win and ease the pressure a little bit for Felix.”
If the schedule was the nice news for Australia – they had been in a position to relaxation and stay up for their third match in six days whereas their opponents had been nonetheless battling at 9.15pm on the eve of the ultimate – Auger-Aliassime’s kind is the unhealthy news.
He proved a terrific associate for the skilled Pospisil as they received the decider 7-6 (7-2) 7-5 to propel Canada to their second ultimate in three years and earn the possibility to win the title for the very first time towards the 28-time successful Aussies.
“It’s been a special journey, special year,” mentioned Auger-Aliassime, who received three tournaments in successive weeks final month.
“There’s a special energy about the team. I think this is the most complete team that we have had in the history of Canadian tennis.”
