“The Canadians are coming,” analyst Patrick McEnroe noted during ESPN’s coverage of Denis Shapovalov’s win on Sunday night.
The Canadians, it appears, are already here. With ‘here’ being the top tier of the tennis world. Last year, of course, Bianca Andreescu authored the watershed moment winning Canada’s first singles Grand Slam at the US Open. She breached the gates in New York and this year, with Andreescu sidelined due to injury, the men are storming through.
Shapovalov beat David Goffin in four sets on Sunday to advance to his first major quarterfinal and become the first Canadian man to reach the final eight in New York in singles.
“Honestly, it’s incredible,” the 21-year-old said. “The first time I heard about it was on court. It literally gave me goosebumps. I’m just so proud to represent such a great country.”
Shapovalov proud of historic moment, excited for opportunity to make deeper US Open run
For the first time ever, a Canadian male singles player has reached the quarter-finals of the US Open as Denis Shapovalov got past David Goffin to make history. He spoke with Mark Masters about how proud he is of the achievement, his game plan against Goffin and how the draw has opened up with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic out of the picture.
On Monday, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Vasek Pospisil can join Shapovalov. Pospisil faces No. 21 seed Alex de Minaur at 11 am ET on TSN1. Auger-Aliassime aims to upset No. 2 seed Dominic Thiem in a match that won’t start before 2 pm ET on TSN3.
This is the first time three Canadian men have reached the fourth round at the same major.
“I’ve been following Denis and Felix, obviously, closely this week,” said the 30-year-old Pospisil, who has played a mentorship role for his young compatriots. “I see them both every day. I hang out with Felix a lot playing games and in the arcade room at the hotel so it’s really cool to see. I really love those guys. Felix is just one of the nicest guys on tour, honestly. So, super thrilled to see they’re doing well and it’s cool to be part of history for tennis in Canada. It’s an amazing time for our sport and our country and hopefully we can keep the momentum going.”
While Andreescu’s run inspired a legion of new fans, this year’s second week hat trick in singles is helping raise the spirits of a pandemic-battered Tennis Canada.
“It’s a lot of pride for Canadian tennis, a lot of pride for Tennis Canada as well,” said head coach of the men’s program Guillaume Marx, who works with Auger-Aliassime. “It’s a tough year for everybody, but especially for Tennis Canada. I’m thinking of all the people that have been putting in a lot of effort lately. I’m thinking of all the people who are involved.”
With the big tour events in Toronto and Montreal cancelled this summer, Tennis Canada is going to lose a little less than $17 million this year, according to president and CEO Michael Downey.
“We unfortunately laid off 40 per cent of our staff and pretty well cut everything we do in tennis development from April on other than supporting some of the next-generation players that are at the National Training Centre in Montreal,” said Downey. “We’re not doing much because we couldn’t afford to be doing it and that’s a very difficult situation for us. And it’s not going to get easier because we don’t really know what ’21 looks like.”
Tennis Canada is modelling scenarios in which the next Rogers Cup is held as usual with fans, with less fans than usual and with no fans at all. They are also selling return-to-tennis kits to try and raise some money.
Downey says Tennis Canada usually gets around $1 million in federal government funding through Sport Canada and Own The Podium, which is less than other national sport organizations. They usually don’t need more because the Rogers Cup brings in so much. Now, Tennis Canada is hoping that Ottawa will provide a lifeline and Downey believes Shapovalov, Auger-Aliassime and Pospisil have helped in the lobbying efforts.
“It’s actually, to a certain degree, the best advertisement, because one way or another Tennis Canada has helped these players,” Downey said.
Tennis is an individual sport and every player takes their own journey. Coached by his mom and supported by a private benefactor, Shapovalov wasn’t part of the Tennis Canada program growing up.
“I had to do it on my own with my family,” said Shapovalov, who was born in Israel, but moved to Canada at a young age. “I’m just thankful that, at that time, Canada gave my parents a home to live in and a place to grow up and be raised in.”
“We can’t take credit for it,” Downey noted. “At the end of the day, Milos [Raonic] goes out and hits his own balls and so does Bianca and Denis and Felix, but one way or another we were there providing coaching or providing competitive structure and this is a great advertisement as we try to get the federal government to support us, because the program that helped develop these players is in jeopardy.”
Everywhere you look there are positive signs for Canadian tennis on the court. Raonic, who lost in the second round of the US Open to Pospisil, reached the championship match at the Western & Southern Open, a Masters 1000 event, right before the Grand Slam.
Montreal’s Leylah Annie Fernandez, who just turned 18 on Sunday, celebrated her first Grand Slam main draw match win in the first round of the US Open and will break into the top 100 for the first time next week.
Ottawa’s Gaby Dabrowski and her American partner Alison Riske will play a quarterfinal doubles match at 11 am ET Monday on TSN2. And Shapovalov is also alive in the US Open doubles draw alongside partner Rohan Bopanna of India. They will play in the quarterfinals on Monday in a match that won’t start before 3 pm ET and can be watched on TSN2.
Tennis Canada hopes strong US Open results help spark government support
Canadian players are off to a great start in New York and Tennis Canada president and CEO Michael Downey is hoping the federal government is taking notice. The cancellation of the Rogers Cup events this summer means Tennis Canada will lose close to $17 million this year despite cutting 40 per cent of its staff. Downey is hoping Ottawa will provide additional financial support to his organization
The pandemic is unpredictable and there are plenty of organizations in various sectors that are worthy of government help. Downey says the government has been receptive so far, but how things shake out is hard to tell. For now, at least, Canada’s tennis community has reason to cheer and dream of a bright future.
After Auger-Aliassime was forced to retire from their first-round match a couple years ago at the US Open, Shapovalov comforted his friend by telling him they’d meet again one day at the tournament in the championship match.
“It’s definitely a potential [scenario] that it could happen this year,” Shapovalov said on Sunday night before adding, “it’s still very far away. There’s so many great players in the draw for both of us. It’s going to be extremely difficult to get that far. But I’m sure at some point in our careers we’re going to be playing finals against each other, hopefully. Yeah, I mean, that would just be amazing. To grow up with a really close friend, a guy that you’ve been battling against for years from juniors, to go through futures, challengers, everything together, all the way to the top of the grand slam major finals, it would be a movie.”
We may not be at the climax of the movie yet, but the characters are certainly being developed and the plot is advancing.
“Next week there will be three Canadians in the top 20 [in the ATP rankings] and it’s awesome,” Marx said, referring to Shapovalov, Auger-Aliassime and Raonic. “It’s one of the best periods in one of the most bizarre [times] … I hope everybody in Canada that loves tennis is appreciating it.”
Auger-Aliassime embracing underdog role in battle with ‘ultra physical’ Thiem
Dominic Thiem is hoping his edge in experience will be a big advantage on Monday when he faces 20-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime at the US Open. Coach Guillaume Marx is encouraging Auger-Aliassime to embrace the underdog role against the No. 2 seed. “Thiem’s 27 and he can play, but Felix can do something as well, something with his youth.” Marx is expecting an “ultra physical” match against the Australian Open finalist.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
