Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime albeit playing in front of a half empty arena in Manchester, England sealed their first point for Canada at the Davis Cup FInals. They defeated Argentina with a dead rubber to go in the doubles.
The tie is played on hard courts and indoors which heavily favours Canada compared to Argentina who mainly perform on clay. Shapovalov took on Francisco Cerundolo in the first match of the day. He cruised to a 7-5, 6-3 win. It was an error strewn display from both but Shapovalov’s relative process on the surface proved to be a success.
Shapovalov hit less in a combined 96 unforced errors in 21 games as he took down Cerundolo who is ordinarily a clay court specialist. The second match saw Auger-Aliassime take down Sebastian Baez 6-3, 6-3. The opening set was stronger than Shapovalov’s win as he didn’t face a single break point and crafted break chances executing to seal the opener 6-3. He mostly cruised and went one away from the win.
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He diminished his unforced error count in the second set performing even better. He went 4-0 up and despite Baez breaking back, it was still very much a simple win for Canada 6-3 in the second. Also in Manchester are Great Britain as well as Finland before taking on the other members of their group. The winners seal their spot in the knockout stages in Malaga later this year with the opening test passed.
But it was marred perhaps with minimal spectators inside the AO Arena with £10 tickets for some ties being offered out on ticketing services including for Great Britain’s tie against Argentina on Friday. With other countries aside from the home hopes, it is a struggle to fill the stands especially in a country only following the sport for Wimbledon.
Felix Auger-Aliassime wins in style to help @TennisCanada on their bid to be #DavisCup 2024 Champions 🔥 It’s 2-0 Canada with only the doubles still to go 🇨🇦
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This is why Jannik Sinner’s doping ordeal isn’t over yet despite Italian media reports
Tuesday, 10 September 2024 at 17:49
The World Anti-Doping Agency despite reports to the contrary has not yet exonerated Jannik Sinner, the current US Open champion with at least three more weeks left to appeal the case.
WADA shared details of the appeal deadline on Tuesday showing that the World Anti-Doping Code, the global rule set for international sports gives the Montreal based agency at least until the end of September to file a case.
He was seen as bearing no fault or negligence initially and earlier today Italian media seemed to run with the story that due to timescales elapsing, he had been exonerated and would not face an appeal process.
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But WADA were quick to confirm this is not actually the case and they could yet return to appeal the verdict handed down. This gives a nervous wait for Sinner in the coming weeks who could yet face an appeal process.
Only WADA and Nado Italia, Italy’s anti-doping agency are the only two agencies that could challenge the decision by an independent tribunal. While the rules state that any other party has 21 days to appeal, WADA gets another 21 days on top of that. Tuesday marks the 21st day meaning that the reports from Italy were valid but not in the case of WADA.
“The deadline for filing an appeal to the CAS will be 21 days from the date of receipt of the reasoned decision in question by the appealing party,” the tennis integrity agency rulebook says.
Initially Sinner was found guilty of taking the substance Clostebol administered through a spray that got into his system due to his physio using it to treat an ailment and then massaging him. But his appeals for suspension were positive meaning that it didn’t reach the public eye until the no fault or negligence verdict.
“WADA’s review of this case is ongoing. No decision has been taken on that yet. For the deadline, read 13. 2. 3.5 of the World Anti-Doping Code,” said a statement issued to Adam Addicott of Ubi Tennis.
“In addition you may want to check the ITF’s anti-doping rules for further possible provisions regarding deadlines.”
Statement where WADA reveals that the review of Sinner’s case “is still ongoing” for them.
🚨NEW🚨 The WADA has issued me this statement on Jannik #Sinner PART ONE “WADA’s review of this case is ongoing. No decision has been taken on that yet. For the deadline, read 13. 2. 3.5 of the World Anti-Doping Code.”
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