Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov come full circle: ‘It’s cool to be in this position now’

Davis Cup
Canada Davis Cup celebrations

Back in 2015 Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov won the Junior Davis Cup for Canada and seven years later they have only gone and won the “real” Davis Cup.

Shapovalov defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis while Auger-Aliassime got the better of Alex de Minaur as Canada defeated Australia 2-0 in the final in Malaga, Spain, on Sunday to end their long wait for a maiden Davis Cup title at senior level.

Auger-Aliassime, who was undefeated during the week as he won three singles rubbers and a doubles match, described it as a full circle moment.

“It’s much bigger, of course. But at the time, you know, we were kids. It was like a dream also. I remember like we were just, like, we won it. Felt like it was the real one,” the 22-year-old said.

“I remember, yeah, it was the first one in any, like, Davis Cup junior or normal one. But I remember us thinking, like, yeah, we are 15, 16, and, like, we just won Junior Davis Cup, projecting ourselves winning this one day.

“It’s cool to be in this position now, and it’s kind of full circle. Vasek [Pospisil] has been part of Davis Cup for many years, won many matches. I remember as a kid watching him play. Won a lot of clutch matches. Then to have all the rest of young guys coming up and playing well.

“It’s a special team. Hopefully, you know, we are able to bring this very far, you know, this generation.”

Canada beat Germany 2-1 in the quarter-final before edging Italy by the same score in the semi-final, and Shapovalov believes coming from a set down in the deciding doubles rubber against Germany was crucial as he described it as an “out-of-body experience”.

“I think the doubles with Vasek in the first, quarter-finals against Germany, was massive. Going against an undefeated team, coming back from a set down. We just like completely lit it up. It was crazy. It was crazy,” he said.

“We couldn’t miss a ball for a while there. That was like a special – it was an out-of-body experience there. It was crazy.

“Obviously the same with Felix and Vasek’s [on Saturday]. It was such a tough team to go against, [Matteo] Berrettini and [Fabio] Fognini. They have had so much success. The way these guys played, it was amazing to watch. They left it all out there. I mean, there was just too many great moments.”

READ MORE: Toni Nadal explains how Felix Auger-Aliassime has upped his game to beat the best

Denis Shapovalov Felix Auger-Aliassime

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