THE CANADIAN PRESS
CALGARY — Frank Dancevic knows from experience he can’t rely on his world ranking when it comes to Davis Cup.
The 23-year-old from Niagara Falls, Ont., leads the Canadian team into an Americas Group qualifying tie against Mexico starting Friday at the Calgary Corral, where the hosts are undefeated in four previous ties.
Dancevic, ranked No. 84 in the world, veterans Daniel Nestor of Toronto and Fred Niemeyer of Sherbrooke, Que., and 19-year-old rising talent Peter Polansky of Thornhill, Ont., will play two singles matches Friday, a doubles match Saturday and another two singles Sunday.
The winner earns a trip to Chile in April for the second round of zonal qualifying and the victor there advances to a World Group playoff.
A total of 131 countries entered the Davis Cup in 2007, but only 16 reach the elite World Group each year.
Dancevic will be the highest-ranked player in this tie as Mexico’s top player, Bruno Echagaray, is 172nd.
But Dancevic points out he was ranked 350th when he upset No. 47 Flavio Saretta in the fifth and deciding rubber of the 2003 World Group playoff, which vaulted Canada into the World Group for only the second time in history.
And Nestor upset world No. 1 Stefan Edberg of Sweden back in 1992 when Nestor was 238th in singles at the time.
"In Davis Cup, rankings mean absolutely nothing," Dancevic said. "There’s a coach on court giving you strategy on what to do and there’s so much adrenaline flowing from the crowd, that really, when it comes down to it, it’s really different than other events."
Players can also perform out of character when playing under a flag, he said, in either playing above their heads or cracking under the pressure.
Canadian captain Martin Larendeau will name his lineup later this week, but it’s possible that Dancevic and Niemeyer will play Friday’s singles matches, with Niemeyer and Nestor teaming up for Saturday’s doubles.
Polansky is inexperienced with just two career Davis Cup ties. Dancevic was 19 when he upset Saretta in Calgary five years ago and has been a Davis Cup mainstay for Canada ever since.
Nestor, an Olympic gold medallist and former world No. 1 in doubles, holds the Canadian record for participation in Davis Cup ties at 15 and Niemeyer has represented his country all but one year since 1999.
Canada lost 4-1 in Mexico two years ago in the second round of zonal play, but the Mexicans are on Canada’s turf this time.
The Canadians have swept three of four previous ties at the Calgary Corral and didn’t drop a set to Colombia last year in advancing to the second round.
"It’s been a winning formula in the past. We’ve always felt confident going there," Dancevic said.
The taraflex court is fast and the ball will fly far at altitude, so the key is to connect with the ball early, he said.
"Serving and returning are going to be really important and points are going to be a lot shorter than what you see outside on a slow hard court," he explained. "Instead of five- or six-shot rallies, it’s going to two- or three-shot rallies, a lot of aces and unreturnable serves and a lot of coming into the net."
Dancevic had a meteoric 2007 when he reached a career-high No. 65 world ranking on Sept. 10.
He advanced to the final of an ATP tournament for the first time, beating No. 1 seed Andy Roddick en route in Indianapolis, and also got as far as the quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
For the first time in his career, almost all his tournaments were ATP events, not second-tier Challenger tournaments, and he played in all four Grand Slams.
In addition to Roddick, Dancevic faced stars such as Rafael Nadal, James Blake, Marat Safin and David Nalbandian in 2007.
"I was competing against the top 100 guys all year," Dancevic said. "It was my first year competing at a very high level all year and I think that helped me gain confidence."