With the Canadian Davis Cup tennis team suddenly in the Fallout of Israel’s war, Gabriel Diallo and his teammates seem ready to roll with the bumps.
“At the end of the day I don’t think it will change much,” Diallo said on Thursday in a video conference prior to World Group I with Israel. The series of matches are played at an empty location without fans and media that are present due to security problems.
Activists from different groups say that they are planning to protest against the matches on Friday and Saturday about Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
“Regardless of who we have for us, we are going to compete in the same way,” Diallo said. “We all go behind it and try to get the job done.”
Montreal’s Diallo, who will be 24 later this month, is located in unknown waters in its emerging career. He said this is the first time that Sport and World Affairs collided in his career.
“Unforeseen circumstances on my part, so we will just have to adjust,” Diallo said. “I think that if tennis players are our task all year round, adapting to different circumstances. So again, it is a different situation that we have to adapt to.”
It is an unfortunate situation for the Canadian team, which hoped for solid fan support at Scotiabank Center when the draw was announced for the first time.
“It is always nice to cheer a large crowd, but we are professionals in a sport,” said Canada Captain Frank Dancevic. “Thanks to Covid, everyone learned how to play without fans.
“The boys are so taught, so whatever the atmosphere is, I have faith in my team that they can adapt.”
The decision to play without fans was taken earlier this week because of what Tennis Canada called “escalating safety problems” marked by local authorities and national security authorities.
Israel captain Jonathan Erlich says that his team has not felt in Halifax.
“No, I think Tennis Canada treated us very well,” he said. “We have safety around us. We feel safe.”
Erlich said that he and his team proudly represent his Israel at the draw, but refused to weigh the war.
“I have a lot to say, but this is not the time or the place,” he said.
Last month, more than 400 Canadian athletes and academics, including Olympic runner Moh Ahmed, told Tennis Canada to cancel the draw. And the Palestinian activist Tarek Gazawi said on Wednesday that it is wrong to let the competitions go as violence and hunger go, and the games should not be live stream.
The Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs meanwhile said it was disappointed that the event had to be closed for fans because of a “small group of extremists”.
The protests are part of a recent trend of demonstrations about the conflict in Gaza that deposits in Sport.
Also this week the Human Rights Group Palestinian and Jewish Unit Mayor Valérie Plante asked in Montreal to compromise the Israel Prime Minister Technical Cycling Team in the Grand Prix Cycliste De Montréal on Sunday.
The draw for the Canada-Israel-Confirmation was also held on Thursday.
Diallo, the highest ranked player in the competition at number 35, starts on Friday the draw against No. 142 Daniel Cukierman. That will be followed by a meeting between No. 117 Liam Draxl of Newmarket, Ont., In his first Davis Cup Singles match and no. 787 Orel Kimhi.
On Saturday, Draxl and Calgary’s Cleeve Harper Face ofek Shimanov and Jordan Hasson in a double match. Diallo is ready on Kimhi and Draxl is planned to view Cukierman to close the draw.
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