Tennis Canada – Pospisil and Dancevic to play singles; Bester and Shamasdin officially nominated to four-man team

Guadeloupe, March 3, 2016 – The official draw for the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group first round tie between Canada and France took place Thursday in Guadeloupe to determine the match-ups for the coming weekend. The draw was hosted at Mémorial ACTe, a cultural center dedicated to the Memory and History of Slavery Trade. The tie will be contested on an outdoor clay court at the Vélodrome Amédée Detraux in Guadeloupe, France from March 4-6.
 
On Wednesday, Canadian captain Martin Laurendeau officially nominated Philip Bester (Vancouver) and Adil Shamasdin (Toronto) as the substitute players for Milos Raonic (Thornhill, Ontario) and Daniel Nestor (Toronto) who were both unable to compete in the tie.
 
The Canadian Davis Cup team, now consisting of Frank Dancevic (Niagara Falls, Ontario), Vasek Pospisil (Vancouver), Bester and Shamasdin will battle with France in two singles matches on Friday, a doubles match on Saturday and two reverse singles matches on Sunday. Canadian Davis Cup team captain Laurendeau will be at the helm this weekend.
 
World No. 44 Pospisil and No. 245 Dancevic were selected by Laurendeau to play singles, while French captain Yannick Noah nominated world No. 17 Gael Monfils and No. 19 Gilles Simon. The doubles teams will be Pospisil and Bester for Canada, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet. for France.

Today’s draw produced the following weekend match-ups:
  

Event	Representing Canada	Representing France
1st Singles Rubber – Friday, March 4, 11:00 a.m. AST	Frank Dancevic	Gael Monfils
2nd Singles Rubber – Friday, March 4	Vasek Pospisil	Gilles Simon
Doubles Rubber – Saturday, March 5, 2:00 p.m. AST	Philip Bester/Vasek Pospisil	Richard Gasquet/Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
3rd Singles Rubber – Sunday, March 6, 11:00 a.m. AST	Vasek Pospisil	Gael Monfils
4th Singles Rubber – Sunday, March 6	Frank Dancevic	Gilles Simon

 
“With the depth of the French team, the results of today’s draw were always going to present us with a tough task regardless of which players were selected to play or the order of the matches,” said Laurendeau. “But our team has been in very good spirits all week, they are united and they are ready to take on this challenge. These four guys are here because they love competing in Davis Cup and they are proud to represent Canada. That is what they are going to go out onto the court and do this weekend and I know they will leave it all out there and give us every chance to win.”
 
France holds a 2-0 record against Canada in Davis Cup play. The first time the teams met was in 1966 when France won 5-0. In the 2012 World Group first round, France again defeated Canada 4-1 in Vancouver. For this tie, France is the seeded team with an ITF Davis Cup Nations Ranking of No. 5 while Canada is ranked No. 10.
 
Canada will be competing in the elite 16-team World Group for a fifth straight year. France is a perennial Davis Cup contender, having made the Davis Cup final in 2014 and 2010. The nation is a nine-time champion, most recently in 2001.
 
The winner of this tie will move on to the quarter-finals to face either Germany or the Czech Republic in July. The losing nation will be forced to play a World Group playoff in September to keep their spot in the upper echelon of the competition.
 
Davis Cup by BNP Paribas is the largest annual international team competition in sport. A total of 135 nations are participating in 2016 and only the top 16 countries each year qualify for the World Group and play for the prestigious Davis Cup trophy.
 
The matches will be broadcast by Sportsnet and TVA Sports. Please check local listings for the full schedule.
 
Davis Cup by BNP Paribas match schedule for Canada vs. France
(local time)
 
Friday, March 4, 2016 – 11 a.m.                  Singles
Saturday, March 5, 2016 – 2 p.m.                Doubles 
Sunday, March 6, 2016 – 11 a.m.                Reverse Singles
 
About Davis Cup
Davis Cup by BNP Paribas is the World Cup of Tennis. It is the largest annual international team competition in sport, with 135 teams entered in 2016. The competition is 116 years old having been founded in 1900. The title sponsor is BNP Paribas, the Official Bank of Davis Cup. International sponsors are Rolex (Official Timekeeper), Adecco (Official HR Sponsor) and Betway (Official Betting Sponsor). beIN SPORTS is the Official Global Media Rights Partner. Follow all the action onwww.daviscup.com, www.copadavis.com, www.twitter.com/daviscup, www.facebook.com/DavisCupTennis, www.Weibo.com/daviscupofficial and www.DavisCup.tv.  

About Tennis Canada
Founded in 1890, Tennis Canada is a non-profit, national sport association with a mission to lead the growth of tennis in Canada and a vision to become a world-leading tennis nation. We value teamwork, passion, integrity, innovation and excellence. Tennis Canada owns and operates the premier Rogers Cup presented by National Bank WTA and ATP World Tour events, eight professional ITF-sanctioned events and financially supports 15 other professional tournaments in Canada. Tennis Canada operates national junior training centres/programs in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Tennis Canada is a proud member of the International Tennis Federation, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Paralympic Committee and the International Wheelchair Tennis Association, and serves to administer, sponsor and select the teams for Davis Cup, Fed Cup, the Olympic and Paralympic Games and all wheelchair, junior and senior national teams. Tennis Canada invests its surplus into tennis development. For more information on Tennis Canada, please visit our website at www.tenniscanada.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Media Contacts (Toronto):
Sarah Grossman, National Manager, Communications and Media Relations, Professional Tennis    
                sgrossman@tenniscanada.com, 416-509-9694
 
Media Contacts (Montreal):
Valerie Tetreault, Regional Manager, Communications and Media Relations      
                vtetreault@tenniscanada.com, 514-519-1606