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.
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.”
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.”
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.
19:07 IST, November 21st 2019