Mentioning Canada on tennis blog was a kinda unimaginable decade ago. Yes, in hockey you could not start without mentioning at least one or two Canadiens. But in tennis? Now Canadian tennis is in headlines on all tennis webs.
The current success started 10 years ago. Yes, we all know Daniel Nestor, the tennis doubles legend who was number one in doubles ranking in 1999. But if you look at the singles, it all started with Vasek Pospisil and Milos Raonic. Vasek Pospisil is pursuing mainly his doubles career now (Wimbledon 2014 doubles winner with Sock), but he reached 25th place in ATP singles ranking back in 2014. Milos Raonic won 8 ATP tournaments titles in 6 years span from 2011 till 2016. He reached also Wimbledon final in 2016 and was as high as number 3 in ATP ranking that same year. If not the injuries, he could reach much more in the past two years.
In women tennis, the first really successful Canadian player was Eugenie Bouchard. At the age of 20, she won her first (and only) WTA tournament in Nurnberg and reached position number 5 in WTA Ranking. Unfortunately, injuries let her down and she was not able to repeat that unique year.
I do not dare to say that Raonic and Bouchard are done. They still have a lot to achieve and especially Milos Raonic can still win something really big (ATP Masters 1000 tournament or even Grand Slam). But there is another generation of players, still teenagers, that can reach much more.
Canadian Tennis Players Rankings and Titles
| Milos Raonic | Denis Shapovalov | Felix Auger-Aliassime | Brayden Schnur | Vasek Pospisil | Bianca Andreescu | Eugenie Bouchard | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | 28 | 19 | 18 | 23 | 28 | 18 | 25 |
| ATP/WTA Ranking (as of 04/01/2019) | 15 | 20 | 33 | 108 | 131 | 23 | 76 |
| Career High in ATP/WTA Ranking | 3 (as of 11/21/2016) | 20 (as of 04/01/2019) | 33 (as of 04/01/2019) | 103 (03/04/2019) | 25 (01/27/2014) | 23 (04/01/2019) | 5 (as of 10/20/2014) |
| ATP/WTA Tournament Titles | 8 Brisbane (2016), St. Petersburg (2015), Washington (2014), Bangkok (2013), San Jose (2013, 2012, 2011), Chennai (2012) | none | none | none | none | 1 Indian Wells (2019) | 1 Nurnberg (2014) |
| Tennis Racket | Wilson | Yonex | Babolat | Babolat | Wilson | Head | Head |
Denis Shapovalov is 19, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Bianca Andreescu are 18. Andreescu already won Indian Wells WTA Tournament this year. Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime are still waiting, but they already were really close to winning an ATP Tournament.
I saw Auger-Aliassime one and a half year ago (November 2017) in Challenger match playing against Lukas Lacko. He lost in three sets (7-6 4-6 3-6) and he missed the strength and fitness to challenge thirteen years older player. Today, he would beat Lacko anytime and anywhere. The progress he made in one and a half year is just incredible.
The same can be told about Dennis Shapovalov and Bianca Andreescu. Tennis Canada, the Canadian tennis association is doing a really good job. Raonic and Bouchard were just early birds. Shapovalova, Auger-Aliassime, and Andreescu are the continuation and I believe we will see other names out of Canada in the following years.
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