Davis Cup: Alcaraz debuts the number against Auger-Aliassime, a young man who still doesn’t know how to wear his country’s shirt

He will play this Friday the second match against Canada against the only player who has defeated him at the US Open, mediating an injury

Still under the powerful influence of goodbye Roger Federer, Carlos Alcaraz will play this Friday against Happy Auger-Also, in Valencia, his first match as number 1 in the world. We have been left forever without a duel between the new tenant of the ATP penthouse and the one who established a longer period with that rank. Now it’s time to enjoy a new time, which the Spaniard inaugurates in the second match of the Davis Cup tie against Canada, once he has recovered from the enormous waste of energy that he carried out to win his first big in New York.

Deserving, even sitting on the bench, of all the appreciation and attention of the fans who almost filled the Fuente de San Luis Pavilion on the first day of the group stage of the Davis Cup, in which Spain won 3-0 to Croatia, Alcaraz will jump onto the field after the duel between Robert Baptist y Vasek PospisilCanadian number two in the absence of Denis Shapovalov.

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Alcaraz’s rival is, curiously, the only one who has defeated him in his two appearances at the US Open. The Murcian had to retire in the quarterfinals of the last edition due to a right adductor injury when he lost 6-1 and 3-1. He had won in the third round Stefanos Tsitsipas and it came like a cyclone. Auger indeed, 20, is one of the players with the greatest projection on the circuit, but he has not fully endorsed expectations and shows a particular weakness in the Davis Cup. On Tuesday he lost to the Korean Soonwoo Kwon the fourth match of the five singles he has played in this competition. only beat Norbert Gombos to decide the qualification match against Slovakia, in 2019.

trained by Frederic Fontang and by Toni Nadal, lifted his first title at the beginning of the year in Rotterdam, after nine lost finals. In addition to the semifinals of the US Open in 2021, the player from Montreal, number 13 in the world, is taking steps in the right direction, but not at the speed that he could have expected. In the last Roland Garros he took Nadal to five sets in the round of 16, with an exemplary performance. Representing his country and playing at home are still his main handicaps. He never got past the quarterfinals in his five appearances at the Canadian Masters 1000, stopping twice in his debut match.