Togolese Descent Felix Auger-Aliassime helped Canada overcome Australia in the Davis Cup final in Malaga on Sunday.
Auger-Aliassime led his country to its first-ever Davis Cup trophy after winning his singles rubber in Canada’s 2-nil win against 28-time winners Australia.
Born in Montreal, the 22-year-old was born to a Togolese father who migrated to the North American country while his mother – Marie Auger is a French woman.
Auger-Aliassime, currently sixth in the world ranking, secured the title for the North Americans, defeating world No. 24 Alex De Minaur 6-3, 6-4, after Denis Shapovalov gained the first point for Canada with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Thanasi Kokkinakis in the first rubber.
The 22-year-old won all four of his contests while competing in the competition, including three of the four singles matchups. On the day before the final, the Canadian competed in both the singles and doubles rubbers, raising questions about his physical condition.
In 87 games across all competitions in 2022, he has a record of sixty victories and 27 defeats while capturing four trophies.
The Canadians became the 16th nation to win the much-coveted title and the only non-European country since Argentina in 2016 to be crowned champions of the Davis Cup.
Felix Auger-Aliassime and his teammates also tallied Russia’s dominating display from last season, winning the ATP Cup title and the Davis Cup in the same season.
After the game, the newly crowned champion said, “The emotions are tough to describe.” “All of us here – we’ve dreamed of this moment. It’s really a dream come true.”
“We all developed as players individually; we got better and better over the years,” Auger-Aliassime added.
“We’re more ready for these types of moments but it’s never easy to pull through.”
Canada were runners-up in the 2019 edition of the tournament, losing 2-0 to a Spain side led by 22-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal in Madrid.
