BANGKOK, Thailand -- Canada will be the underdog when it faces fourth-seeded France in its return to the Davis Cup World Group, but at least it will be playing at home.
The Canadian men advanced to the tennis world's elite 16 with a victory in Israel on the weekend, which raised its ranking to 14th in the world.
The draw for 2012 match-ups Wednesday morning saw Canada get an opponent it lost to by 5-0 in their only meeting. But that was back in 1966 on clay courts at Roland Garros Stadium in Paris.
France has nine players ranked in the top 100 in the world, led by No. 8 Gael Monfils, No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 11 Gilles Simon and No. 15 Richard Gasquet.
It also has the world's seventh-ranked doubles player in Michael Llodra.
"France is a very tough team, but we are now amongst the best in the world so every team is going to be tough and we think we are tough too," said Canada's captain Martin Laurendeau in a statement.
"We earned our way here and we are going to prepare over the next few months to prove that we belong."
Canada counters with two tall, hard-hitting prospects on the rise -- 30th ranked Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., and 127th ranked Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C., as well as 165th-ranked Frank Dancevic of Niagara Falls, Ont. There is also the fifth-ranked doubles ace Daniel Nestor of Toronto.
With Raonic sick and coming off hip surgery, Pospisil played the hero in a 3-2 win in Israel with two singles wins and another in doubles with Nestor.
"I think my level is there, I'm not too far from the top 100 as it is, but I can't get too far ahead of myself," Pospisil said of his progress this week. "I still have along way to go, so I have to put my head down and continue to work hard on my game."
The best-of-five series will almost certainly be played on Canada's preferred surface, hardcourts, but the host city has yet to be determined.
Tennis Canada executive Eugene Lapierre said this week they will likely seek an arena that can seat up to 8,000 and hope to pack it with a vocal, home country crowd.
And he believes Canada can pull off an upset against any country. The French have won the Davis Cup nine times, most recently in 2001.
"Now we have two competitive players that came from the system we put in place at the national tennis centre," Lapierre said this week. "We don't think it's a fluke. We deserve it.
"Milos is known. We hope he'll regain his previous ability because it was unbelievable. I have no doubt. He has the talent and everyone will fear him in the next year or so on the circuit. Now we have a second kid with Vasek who has demonstrated similar abilities, with the big serve at the right time and an extremely efficient forehand.
"What he demonstrated on the weekend is that he is strong mentally."
Spain, which ousted France 4-1 in the semifinals in September, will play Argentina Dec. 2-4 in this year's Davis Cup final.
The top-ranked Spaniards will face visiting Kazakhstan to kick off the 2012 competition.
In other World Group matches it's Russia at Austria, the U.S. at Switzerland, Italy at the Czech Republic, Sweden at Serbia, Croatia at Japan and Argentina at Germany
The first-round ties will be played Feb. 10-12 in 2012.
"We are so excited to finally have a home tie after being on the road all year," added Laurendeau. "It will be really nice to have our home fans behind us and we are really looking forward to February."
If Canada loses it will drop into a playoff round that it must win to stay in the World Group and avoid relegation to Americas Zone play. A victory would advance the Canadians to the quarter-final stage.
Canada got into the playoff round against Israel with wins this year in Mexico and Ecuador.
The Canadian men advanced to the tennis world's elite 16 with a victory in Israel on the weekend, which raised its ranking to 14th in the world.
The draw for 2012 match-ups Wednesday morning saw Canada get an opponent it lost to by 5-0 in their only meeting. But that was back in 1966 on clay courts at Roland Garros Stadium in Paris.
France has nine players ranked in the top 100 in the world, led by No. 8 Gael Monfils, No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 11 Gilles Simon and No. 15 Richard Gasquet.
It also has the world's seventh-ranked doubles player in Michael Llodra.
"France is a very tough team, but we are now amongst the best in the world so every team is going to be tough and we think we are tough too," said Canada's captain Martin Laurendeau in a statement.
"We earned our way here and we are going to prepare over the next few months to prove that we belong."
Canada counters with two tall, hard-hitting prospects on the rise -- 30th ranked Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., and 127th ranked Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C., as well as 165th-ranked Frank Dancevic of Niagara Falls, Ont. There is also the fifth-ranked doubles ace Daniel Nestor of Toronto.
With Raonic sick and coming off hip surgery, Pospisil played the hero in a 3-2 win in Israel with two singles wins and another in doubles with Nestor.
"I think my level is there, I'm not too far from the top 100 as it is, but I can't get too far ahead of myself," Pospisil said of his progress this week. "I still have along way to go, so I have to put my head down and continue to work hard on my game."
The best-of-five series will almost certainly be played on Canada's preferred surface, hardcourts, but the host city has yet to be determined.
Tennis Canada executive Eugene Lapierre said this week they will likely seek an arena that can seat up to 8,000 and hope to pack it with a vocal, home country crowd.
And he believes Canada can pull off an upset against any country. The French have won the Davis Cup nine times, most recently in 2001.
"Now we have two competitive players that came from the system we put in place at the national tennis centre," Lapierre said this week. "We don't think it's a fluke. We deserve it.
"Milos is known. We hope he'll regain his previous ability because it was unbelievable. I have no doubt. He has the talent and everyone will fear him in the next year or so on the circuit. Now we have a second kid with Vasek who has demonstrated similar abilities, with the big serve at the right time and an extremely efficient forehand.
"What he demonstrated on the weekend is that he is strong mentally."
Spain, which ousted France 4-1 in the semifinals in September, will play Argentina Dec. 2-4 in this year's Davis Cup final.
The top-ranked Spaniards will face visiting Kazakhstan to kick off the 2012 competition.
In other World Group matches it's Russia at Austria, the U.S. at Switzerland, Italy at the Czech Republic, Sweden at Serbia, Croatia at Japan and Argentina at Germany
The first-round ties will be played Feb. 10-12 in 2012.
"We are so excited to finally have a home tie after being on the road all year," added Laurendeau. "It will be really nice to have our home fans behind us and we are really looking forward to February."
If Canada loses it will drop into a playoff round that it must win to stay in the World Group and avoid relegation to Americas Zone play. A victory would advance the Canadians to the quarter-final stage.
Canada got into the playoff round against Israel with wins this year in Mexico and Ecuador.
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