Published 20:06 IST, November 21st 2019
Djokovic & Murray displeased over Canada's decision to hand USA a walkover
Two of tennis' biggest voices, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray said that they were not happy with Canada deciding to not participate and give a walkover to USA
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Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, two of tennis' biggest voices have expressed their displeasure over Canada handing USA a walkover victory during the Davis Cup tie. This resulted in USA registering a 6-0, 6-0 automatic victory, and also lead to an uproar in the tennis community.
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Stars unhappy with the decision
During the tie between the two North American teams, Canda had registered a 2-0 victory in the singles matches. However, they did not participate in the doubles match later citing injury issues to multiple players and thus, handing USA a victory. Canada had already qualified for the quarterfinals by then since they had defeated Italy the previous day 2-1.
Djokovic was asked about it in his press conference and he said, "I heard that, actually, just recently. I personally don't like that. I mean, that shouldn't be allowed, to be honest. I understand that Canada is through already, they won both of their ties. Maybe some of the players like Felix, I think he's injured, and they wanted to rest their players for the quarterfinals and onwards. But I just feel it's not fair that the USA gets 6-0 6-0 because they are going actually head-to-head now against Italy." He went on to add, "But I also understand it wouldn't be fair if you just don't give a point, you know, because USA was ready to play doubles. So I don't know. But I think everyone should be obliged to come out and play, at least play.”
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Britain's Andy Murray was asked about the controversy and he said, "I don't think that's good.. So where Canada may have felt that that was a dead rubber in theory for them because they were already through, that could have implications to all of the teams potentially that might finish in second place. And, I believe they also would have had two days off as well after that so I think they should have played the tie.”
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A statement by the Tennis Federation said that three Canadian players had visited independent doctors and were declared unfit to play, resulting in the decision to hand a walkover.
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19:07 IST, November 21st 2019