DAVIS CUP FINALS

November 21, 2023

Frank Dancevic

Vasek Pospisil

Alexis Galarneau

Team Canada

Press Conference

HELIOVAARA-VIRTANEN/Galarneau-Pospisil

7-5, 6-3

Team Canada - 1

Team Finland - 2

THE MODERATOR: Let's start the press conference with Team Canada.

Q. Frank, a tough day, of course. How close was Felix to being a part of the action today, or was it just like a clear decision that he just wasn't ready?

CAPTAIN FRANK DANCEVIC: Yeah, I mean, he wasn't ready for today's match. It wasn't a clear decision that he wasn't going to play this week, but for today's match he wasn't quite ready.

You know, he didn't feel comfortable going out on court and playing, which is completely understandable with his injury. But we had to go with the other guys on the team.

Q. Well, it's never nice to talk to someone who has just lost. I'd like to understand what do you think was more surprising for you? It's still a big upset. I mean, especially, okay, Heliovaara is a great doubles player. Virtanen, we didn't expect him to be so competitive. Pospisil has won everything in doubles. How do you explain it? Do you think the fact that you lost one single put you under much more pressure than you expected, that that could be the reason, being world champion?

CAPTAIN FRANK DANCEVIC: Well, I think obviously if it was 2-0 we wouldn't have much pressure, right (smiling)? We'd be through. That's a little bit of a strange question.

But, you know, the guys, they put their hearts on the line. Vasek, he was injured going in the match. He's been struggling with an injury coming into the tie, and we have been managing it. We weren't even sure if he was going to play today.

The fact he went out and played, his serve is one of the biggest strengths in his game, and, you know, it was difficult for him to serve today in the match. The fact he went out there and played and we had a chance to actually win was amazing. Because the result we had, we gave ourselves a shot.

So, you know, we actually did a lot better than I expected today in the doubles, and we were in the match. We had chances. We went deep in every one of their service games.

You know, they played really well. The Finnish team played extremely well. You know, ultimately when you have injured players on one side, fresh guys who are confident on the other side who have never been in that situation before, they're hungry, they had a big crowd, you know, they ended up playing well in the end and getting through.

Q. Vasek, your captain touched on it there, but can you just in your own words talk about how you were feeling today? Obviously Felix injured, Milos said he was feeling something a bit this morning as well. Can you talk about your decision to go out there in the doubles?

VASEK POSPISIL: Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's been a tough year. I have been dealing with an elbow tear in my tendon since July. I was dealing with another health issue for five months prior to that. Tore my tendon playing with the heaviest balls in the history, and then I have been just trying to manage it. Taking ten days off, coming back, take another ten days until I couldn't play. So, I mean, I didn't play for five weeks before coming here.

That's not to take nothing away from our opponents, because actually I think considering, I mean, considering the circumstance and he has wrist pain and everybody has got pain, of course, but we still played a good level. I thought they played amazing, so a lot of credit to them.

Personally, for me, I mean, I was in a lot of pain. It's not fun playing in pain. Ironically I feel like if this was a tournament, you know, throughout the year, I definitely wouldn't have played.

I would have rather not played if we had, you know, let's say somebody that was healthy and willing to go, but I was healthy enough. By tear is healed as of a couple days ago, and then, I mean, I still have some issues, but, yeah, it's not perfect, that's for sure.

My goal now is just to be healthy for next year.

Q. Frank, what did you know about them? I mean, certainly a couple of guys are regulars on the tour. But were you able to get much research done? Considering that, how much of a surprise or shock has it come to see the way they have played and the way they have grouped together, the Finnish team?

CAPTAIN FRANK DANCEVIC: I wouldn't say it's a surprise or shock. To get to this point in a tournament, to get to the quarterfinals, you have to play at a very high level. Obviously these guys, they're playing really well at Davis Cup.

You know, I wasn't surprised. We were expecting a really tough team today. We were expecting to play tough players.

Okay, Milos playing the first match, he's playing a guy really low ranked. You know, I felt like we had the advantage in that match.

But then, you know, Gabriel playing, the two No. 1s playing, it was a coin toss. It could have gone either way. We knew Vasek, with the injuries, and being difficult for him to play 100%, it was going to be a very tough tie for us to get through.

Again, like Vasek said, taking nothing away from them, they played great tennis. We weren't 100%, and, you know, that's just the way it goes.

Q. Vasek, I'd like you to elaborate a little bit on the balls issue. You seem a bit annoyed about that.

VASEK POSPISIL: Absolutely, yeah. I mean, don't even get me started.

Yeah. I mean, I could just tell you a little bit about what happened with my elbow the last two years. I had a tear in my UCL, second-degree tear. Almost fully tore it. We were playing challenger events in France.

Every player was complaining about the ball, every single player. It was like we were playing with a rock. I have never experienced anything like it in my life, to be honest. Every time you hit the ball you felt pain in your wrist and elbows and shoulder. Unfortunately, I played very well those two weeks. I guess they were good for my game but terrible for my body.

By the second week, I had a second-degree tear in my UCL. Almost tore it all the way through.

I was out for a long time. Honestly since then I've just been having a lot of issues in my elbow, because, you know -- so I don't know. I mean, there has also been, I know this because I was on the council for several years, and there was discussions that, you know, they wanted to make the points longer for fans so it was more entertaining.

First of all, nobody wants to see a 60-ball rally every point. They like variety. So that failed. The next thing is, one out of two players, 50% of players seem to have wrist, elbow, shoulder issues in the locker room.

Then recently people started to tweet about it. Now there is a bit of talk, and they're, Oh, yeah, we are addressing it, addressing it.

Players don't talk about it openly. They are in the locker room. Everyone has got -- he has wrist pain. I mean, how many wrist surgeries have we seen this year? Guy popped his elbow -- I mean, yeah, I can name several players.

So I just think personally that this is a very, you know, big business. Tennis is a huge global business, multi-billion-dollar industry. I think we should be treated as partners. Obviously I think players bring a lot of value to this business, and that hasn't been the case. I mean, I have seen it. I have been on the council. I know exactly how things go.

I think when we get to a place where players, you know, are able to impact decisions like this, that impacts their health, including the length of the season and, you know, whatever -- it would just be nice to have more collaboration.

There is a facade of collaboration. There is a, you know, a big, big fake thing, but the reality is there's not. Obviously now there is a lot of pressure because of player association, because it's being spoken about a lot more. So there is some movement there in the right direction.

But, I mean, it's been a big problem, and I feel quite a bit of resentment, honestly, because even when I had my back surgery in 2019, at the end of 2018 I played a match, I finished at 12:30 in the morning, three-and-a-half-hour match, Paris-Bercy. I was exhausted, and they scheduled me to play at 1:00 p.m. the next day.

So finished at 12:30. I think I went to bed at, like, 4:30. Slept until 10:00. Then played at 1:00. Then fourth game into the match I blew my disc completely.

I was out for nine months. These are the kind of things, right? So players can complain, complain, complain. At the end of the day they don't really have that much say in this sport, unfortunately.

But it's changing. It's changing quickly. I think when it does, this sport will be a lot better. I think it will grow organically the way it should be growing, because it has so much potential. It's the third-most-watched sport in the world, second-most bet-on sport in the world, and it's falling behind the other sports. It's not because of the quality of the product. It's because of the quality of the organization running the sport.