Canada gets wild-card berth for 16-team Davis Cup Finals

Canada has been chosen as a replacement wild-card entry for the group stage of the Davis Cup Finals in September.

The International Tennis Federation announced Thursday that Canada would receive the berth as the highest-ranked losing nation at this year's qualifiers.

The vacancy was created after the recent suspension of the Russian Tennis Federation and Belarus Tennis Federation from ITF membership. Serbia, as the highest-ranked losing semifinalist in 2021, was named as the replacement for Russia last week.

Sixth-ranked Canada will now take Serbia's wild-card spot in the field. Canada dropped a 4-0 decision to the Netherlands in qualifying play earlier this month.

Russia defeated Croatia in last year's final. Croatia gets a berth in the 16-team group stage as the 2021 finalist while Britain gets the other wild-card berth.

Rounding out the field are recent qualifier winners Argentina, Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United States.

The draw for the Sept. 14-18 group stage will be held March 31. The top two teams from each four-team group will advance to the knockout stage in late November.

Canada reached the final in 2019 before falling to Spain.

Belarus, meanwhile, was scheduled to play Mexico in the World Group I playoffs earlier this month. Mexico advanced via walkover and will play at the World Group I level in September.