 Our main topic today is the Davis Cup in Spain, where Rafael Nadal may have played the final match of his career today and Canada will face Germany in the quarterfinals tomorrow.
Plus, Alex Ovechkin's pursuit of Wayne Gretzky's goals record is halted by an injury, the Canadian men's soccer team has an important match tonight and the Cleveland Cavaliers try to go 16-0. | | | Canada has a second chance at team tennis glory in the Davis Cup
| | | Canada's title defence at the Billie Jean King Cup was extremely short-lived.
A year after capturing the global women's team tennis championship for the first time in its 60-year history, Canada failed to even win a set in Sunday's 2-0 loss to Great Britain after receiving a bye to the quarterfinals. Rebecca Marino fell 6-0, 7-5 to Emma Raducanu before Leylah Fernandez went down 6-2, 6-4 to Katie Boulter to complete the British sweep.
Fortunately, Canada does not have to wait long for a shot at team tennis redemption. The men's Davis Cup Final 8 is now underway at the same indoor venue in Malaga, Spain that is hosting the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.
The Canadian men played their way here by going a perfect 3-0 in the group stage in September. Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov both won all three of their singles matches against Argentina, Finland and host England to send Canada to this week's quarterfinals.
Auger-Aliassime was also the driving force behind Canada's stunning Davis Cup victory in 2022. He upset then world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in group play before winning all three of his knockout-round matches to help his country hoist the Cup for the first time in its history, which dates back to 1900.
But, for the second straight year, Canada's top singles player will miss the Final 8. Last year, Auger-Aliassime was scratched due to injury before the defending champs lost to Finland in the quarterfinals. This time, the world's 29th-ranked player said he needs time to recover from his singles season and focus on his humanitarian work in West Africa.
That leaves captain Frank Dancevic with no top-50 players on his roster. Shapovalov, who sat out last year with a knee injury, is ranked 56th in the world in singles while Gabriel Diallo is 86th and Alexis Galarneau, Milos Raonic (Felix's replacement) and Vasek Pospisil are all outside the top 200.
Each Davis Cup tie is a best-of-three contest with two singles matches followed by a doubles decider if necessary, so Canada's lack of singles depth could prove costly.
The good news for Canada is that their opponent for Wednesday's quarterfinal is also missing its best player. But, even with world No. 2 Alex Zverev out, Germany still has the edge on paper with No. 43 Jan-Lennard Struff, No. 88 Daniel Altmaier and No. 95 Yannick Hanfmann as singles options.
If it goes to the tiebreaker, the Germans would appear to have a big edge with doubles specialists Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz coming off their big-money win at last week's ATP Finals. Canada is likely to counter with Shapovalov and Pospisil, who beat Krawietz and Puetz in the quarterfinals during Canada's run to the Cup in 2022.
The Canada-Germany tie begins at 6 a.m. ET on Wednesday. Watch it live on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.
The winner will meet host Spain or the Netherlands in the semifinals on Friday. At our publish time, those teams were headed to a doubles decider after the departing Rafael Nadal lost 6-4, 6-4 to 80th-ranked Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp and third-ranked Carlos Alcaraz kept Spain alive by beating No. 40 Tallon Griekspoor 7-6 (0), 6-3. Here's the latest.
If Spain loses, it will mark the end of Nadal's pro tennis career. The 22-time Grand Slam champion announced last month that this would be his final event, giving him a chance to say goodbye in his home country.
The other Davis Cup quarterfinals are the United States vs. Australia (Thursday at 4 a.m. ET) and defending champion Italy vs. Argentina (Thursday at 11 a.m. ET). Watch both matchups live on CBC Sports' streaming platforms, where you can also see Italy and Slovakia play for the Billie Jean King Cup on Wednesday at noon ET. | | |  | Denis Shapovalov went 3-0 in his group singles matches to help Canada reach the Davis Cup Final 8. (Matt McNulty/Getty Images for ITF)
| | | Quickly…
| | | Some other things to know:
1. Alex Ovechkin's Gretzky chase is on hold.
Ovechkin has been on fire of late, scoring five times over the past two nights to grab the NHL goals lead with 15 in 18 games this season. He's now just 26 goals behind Wayne Gretzky's all-time NHL record of 894, and Ovechkin is on pace to reach that number in one fewer game than the Great One played.
However, Ovechkin's chase veered off course last night when he collided knee-on-knee with Utah's Jack McBain during the third period of Washington's 6-2 win. Ovechkin left the game and did not return, and the Capitals said today that he's considered week-to-week with a lower-leg injury.
Before his exit, Ovechkin scored twice on Utah's Connor Ingram — the 178th goalie he's beaten in his 20-year NHL career, tying Jaromir Jagr for the league record.
In other NHL news, Vancouver Canucks star J.T. Miller is taking an indefinite leave of absence for personal reasons, the team announced today.
2. The Canadian men's soccer team has an important task tonight.
After eking out a 1-0 away win over 136th-ranked Suriname in the opening leg of their CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal on Friday, No. 35 Canada can advance with a win or a tie in the return leg tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET at Toronto's BMO Field.
The winners of each quarterfinal advance to the four-team CONCACAF Nations League Finals in Los Angeles in March and qualify for next summer's Gold Cup. The United States and Panama wrapped up quarterfinal wins over Jamaica and Costa Rica last night, while Honduras can complete an upset of Mexico tonight after taking the opening leg 2-0 at home.
Canada coach Jesse Marsch used Monday's practice to focus on set pieces (such as corner and free kicks) in hopes that it might generate more scoring. Here's more on that from Chris Jones.
3. The Cleveland Cavaliers can earn the second-best start in NBA history.
Led by guard Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland (15-0) is currently tied with the 1993-94 Houston Rockets and the 1948-49 Washington Capitols for the second-most consecutive wins to begin a season. The record belongs to the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors, who reeled off 24 in a row to open their historic 73-9 season.
No. 16 won't be easy for the Cavs. Tonight they visit the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics (11-3), who went a league-best 37-4 at home last season.
| | | That's it for today. Talk to you tomorrow.
| | | | Not subscribed? Sign up here to get the Buzzer delivered to your inbox. Got an idea, question, comment or other feedback on the newsletter? Drop us a line at thebuzzer@cbc.ca. | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
forwarded to you. | | | |
