Davis Cup: Tournament or Sportswashing Debacle?

The last few months have seen unprecedented excitement and winnings from Canadian Tennis players. 

On Aug. 7, Victoria Mboko won the National Bank Open in Montreal, Leyla Fernandez won the Citi DC Open title in July, and Felix Auger-Aliassime made it to the semifinals of the U.S Open last week. 

There have been moments of unbridled joy (in the form of Fernandes and her doubles partner, Venus Williams) and there is much to look forward to with the potential for drawing in new fans and supporters of the sport.

In the background of this excitement, the Davis Cup — known for being a global tournament that amplifies team tennis — there is upheaval and resistance. 

The Davis Cup is being hosted by Tennis Canada in Halifax, N.S. and Canada will face Israel in a tie on September 12 and 13 in a closed venue with no spectators. The games will be broadcast, but the players will be in a stadium reminiscent of peak COVID-19 times: empty. 

This decision was made in conjunction with the ITF to ensure safety after they received information and “intelligence received from local authorities and national security agencies.” However, according to a CBC news report, the Halifax Regional Police were not one of the entities or “local authorities” that Tennis Canada referred to in regards to safety and security intel.  

The community in Halifax has been protesting and will continue to voice concerns. There are planned protests throughout the duration of the Davis Cup. The municipality has also cancelled $50,000 of funding towards the event. According to a city spokesperson, because the event is behind closed doors, the Davis Cup no longer offers “the tourism, economic and other benefits that would have been expected had it proceeded as originally planned.”

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Those opposed to genocide and unimaginable atrocities in Gaza are protesting the decision to host Israel at all. In a piece for The Breach, Assistant Professor of Political and Cultural Studies at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, El Jones, writes: 

“While defenders of Israel’s continued participation argue that sports are ‘not political,’ the West’s hypocritical human rights double standards—and the Palestinian exception—are on clear display.”

There are legitimate reasons to challenge Israel’s participation in global sport and implore the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and Tennis Canada to cancel the event. Previous examples of sanction and protest include Canada’s withdrawal from the Davis Cup in 1987 in opposition to South Africa’s institutionalized racism and apartheid. If racial discrimination was enough of a reason to call for the expulsion of South Africa from sport, then surely committing genocide ought to be compelling enough. 

According to the International Association of Genocide Scholars, organizations like UNICEF, Médecins sans frontières, and above all, the cries from Palestinians, Israel’s crimes meet the legal definition of genocide. Is it really impolite to un-invite them to a tennis competition? Isn’t targeting and forever-silencing members of the media, killing health care professionals and hospitals, murdering innocent civilians and decimating any sports infrastructure in the region, plus the annihilation of over 800 athletes, an important consideration when thinking about sport in a wider societal context? 

Dr. Adam Ali is an Assistant Professor of Sociocultural Studies at Western University and a member of Sports Scholars For Justice in Palestine. I asked him why Tennis Canada seems reluctant to ban Israel despite studies, reporting, lived experience and logic. 

“Context is important to consider in these instances,” Ali explained. “Those of us in the West tend to present the anti-apartheid movement and sanctioning of South Africa, for instance, as one that was globally embraced. This is revisionist history. 

“South African apartheid policies were banned by the UN General Assembly in 1962. It took 24 more years before the United States passed the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act in 1986 — though it had to overcome a Presidential Veto by Ronald Reagan first. Western nations were hesitant initially to sanction South Africa over their own economic and geopolitical interests.”

He pointed out that, similarly to the current movement against Israel, smaller and less powerful nations (including South Africa) are taking a stand against them. 

Western powers such as the United States, France, and Britain, less so.  

Another glaring truth is the type of identities involved in the event. Members of team Israel may have served in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), which is problematic at best. 

According to a co-authored report from Mondoweiss, one of the top-ranked players, Daniel Cukierman, extolled the virtues of the IDF in a previous interview. Perhaps it is true that not every athlete supports a terrorizing and assault-obsessed regime, but the reality is that without speaking up against genocide, one is complicit. 

I asked Ali why it’s not unfair to sanction all Israeli athletes. 

“The same could be said for Russian athletes who now must compete under a neutral banner in international competition because of the actions of their government in invading Ukraine,” he said. “We know there are Russian athletes who disagree with the actions of their government, either outwardly or quietly, for fear of their safety or of being labelled a traitor — and this is very likely the case with many Israeli athletes. Yet, resistance to the ban of Team Russia pales in comparison to similar calls to sanction Team Israel. Palestinian lives are every bit as worthy of such calls to protect their lives and sanctity.” 

Ali points out that hundreds of Palestinian athletes have lost their lives since October 2023. Israel has razed Palestine’s sporting infrastructure. We must ask ourselves why we are so concerned with the emotions of some athletes and are equally as unaffected by the obliteration of others, he says.

Some athletes from allies of Israel that help fund the genocide have come forward before to call for justice and previously, a ceasefire. Earlier this week, in an act of defiance, Italian soccer supporters turned their backs on the Israeli anthem during a World Cup qualifying match between Italy and Israel in Hungary. 

Norway men’s football team will be donating proceeds from their August 2025 match against Israel to aid in Gaza. 

“Neither we nor other organizations can remain indifferent to the humanitarian suffering and disproportionate attacks that the civilian population in Gaza has been subjected to for a long time,” Lisa Klaveness, Norwegian Federation President said. 

Why does Tennis Canada remain indifferent? 

If they care about sport, including tennis players, coaches and fans in Gaza — the Palestinian Tennis Federation remains active — could they not make a statement that offers compassion, empathy or awareness for those connected to tennis who have died, and the facilities that were destroyed in almost two years of assault?

“Rather than speak out to defend innocent Palestinians, or to condemn war crimes, or to express any shred of empathy for murdered children, Tennis Canada has chosen to criticize only one group of people: those who oppose genocide and sportswashing,” Jones said over email. “While they tell us ‘politics is beyond sports’ and cannot spare a word to be sorry about the 56 children who will be murdered while this match is taking place, Tennis Canada suddenly finds a lot to say when it comes to blaming protestors for the complete collapse of this ill-conceived event.” 

It is not enough for sports federations and associations to turn away from acknowledging a human catastrophe. It is not enough to want to amplify sport and wish for peace without hearing calls for justice. A swing of the racquet or the sound of an ace will not drown out the cries of mothers weeping for their dead children; children who will never get to experience the joys of tennis. 

As the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” 

In August, over 400 athletes and academics signed a letter to Tennis Canada to cancel the Davis Cup tie. Full transparency, I was among the signatories in my own capacity as a sports scholar. I believe that Tennis Canada and the ITF have a responsibility to the community beyond an event and competition. The context around calls to exclude Israel from the Davis Cup are critical in understanding why sports must be used as a tool of freedom and justice, not simply as a capitalist cog. 

On Wednesday, another letter was published from notable personalities, including Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela (currently on the Freedom Flotilla heading to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid), former Ambassador to the United Nations, Stephen Lewis, critically acclaimed author Michelle Landsberg, and Charlotte Phillips, goalkeeper with Palestine’s women’s national football team and York University. 

Instead of cancelling the event, Tennis Canada chose to close the venue to the public.

Sports and sporting events are exactly the vehicle that should be used to speak of justice, and move towards a society where we think about the spirit of sport and how it can affect change. 

This is an opportunity for Tennis Canada, and any other sports federation, to be on the correct side of history, lead with integrity and set a pace for navigating complicated geopolitical issues. It also tells the world that even more powerful than sport is the ability to use it as a platform to speak out against genocide.