Canada: That's a wrap on Canada's tennis year

Canadian tennis players experienced another tough season finale today as Canada was eliminated from the Davis Cup with a 2-0 loss to Germany in the quarterfinals of the global men's team championship in Spain.

With top singles player Felix Auger-Aliassime missing the knockout stage for the second straight year after leading Canada to its first Davis Cup title in 2022, 86th-ranked Gabriel Diallo lost in straight sets to No. 88 Daniel Altmaier before No. 56 Denis Shapovalov fell 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5) to No. 43 Jan-Lennard Struff to complete a German sweep of the best-of-three tie.

Canada's quick exit came three days after the Canadian women's team also got swept in the quarterfinals of their Davis Cup equivalent, the Billie Jean King Cup, played at the same indoor arena in Malaga, Spain. Leylah Fernandez could not replicate her magic from last year, when she went 4-0 in singles play at the 12-team Finals to help Canada hoist the Cup for the first time.

Fernandez and Rebecca Marino both lost in straight sets as Canada fell easily to Great Britain after a first-round bye.

As the 2024 tennis season comes to a close this week, Canada has just two players ranked in the top 50 in singles. Auger-Aliassime has slipped to 29th — down from a career-high sixth as recently as March 2023 — while Fernandez has fallen to 31st after reaching No. 13 in 2022. Neither player won a tournament this year, and their best result at a Grand Slam was Auger-Aliassime's modest fourth-round run at the French Open.