When longtime tennis coach Mike Thomson started working with Canada’s Marina Stakusic during her junior days, he could tell almost immediately that she had tremendous potential.
The telltale sign was the sound the ball made when it came off her racket.
“Everything is in the middle of the racket every single time and that was Marina when she was eight,” Thomson said. “She just hit the ball solidly every single time.”
Stakusic, now 18, is enjoying a breakout performance this week at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals. She was a surprise selection for singles play and earned a 6-3, 6-1 upset win over Rebeka Masarova of host Spain in her debut Wednesday.
“I think she handled herself incredibly well when she was under pressure, when her opponent was maybe giving signs of coming back to life,” said Sylvain Bruneau, a high-performance consultant with Tennis Canada. “I think she was fabulous in making sure that didn’t happen.”
Stakusic, from Mississauga, Ont., developed her skills as a youngster at the Eglinton Flats Winter Tennis Club. Thomson has served as tennis director at the west Toronto facility for over two decades.
“Nothing ever got to her,” Thomson recalled in a phone interview with The Canadian Press. “She never got mad on a tennis court. Tennis is such a mental game. You have to keep your composure at all times.
“Marina is always composed on the tennis court — always. Right from eight years old.”
Stakusic played like a veteran in front of a partisan crowd on Wednesday, showing no signs of jitters on one of the sport’s biggest stages. Captain Heidi el Tabakh gave her the nod over more experienced teammates Rebecca Marino and Eugenie Bouchard.
“We knew she was in full confidence mode,” Bruneau said. “She had done really well recently. That’s a factor you want to consider. We also felt that she’s young, up and coming, we felt it would be a lot of pressure on her opponent’s shoulders to play her and that’s exactly what happened.”
She got the starting assignment again Thursday and came through with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Poland’s Magdalena Frech. Leylah Fernandez again followed with a singles victory to secure Canada’s berth in the final four at the 12-team event.
Teenager Marina Stakusic puts Canada 1 win away from Billie Jean King Cup semis
Featured Video18-year-old Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., won for a second day in a row, rallying to a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Poland’s Magdalena Frech at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Seville, Spain.
The Canadians were off Friday ahead of Saturday’s semifinals. The final was scheduled for Sunday.
Stakusic has won three lower-level ITF tournaments this year since returning from a six-month injury layoff. She’s not afraid to be aggressive on court and use her well-rounded game to her advantage.
“She’s got a lot of tools in her toolbox,” Bruneau said from Seville. “She’s got a great backhand slice, she’s able to do angles, she’s able to change the pace of the ball, which combined with her really heavy ground strokes is quite interesting.
“She loves to come in (to the net) actually. She comes in a lot to finish points, so she’s really good at the net. So you put all of that together, she has a very complete game.”
Once the BJK Cup Finals are complete, Bruneau said he’ll join Stakusic at a Challenger tournament in Portugal. He said after some rest, she will split off-season training between Montreal and Florida.
“I think she’s going to be a really accomplished player,” he said. “There’s no doubt.”
Stakusic, the world No. 258, has yet to play a main draw match on the WTA Tour. She reached the final round of qualifying at the National Bank Open last summer in Montreal.
Stakusic was named ITF player of the month for September.
“It’s a tennis instructor’s dream to watch somebody like that hit a tennis ball,” Thomson said. “There’s really not much to teach somebody like that. The package comes to you. It’s amazing.”
EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, led the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan vote her first year on the ballot — an important part to possible selection to the hall’s next class.
The organization released the voting results on Friday. American doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan finished second with Canada’s Daniel Nestor third.
The Hall of Fame said tens of thousands of fans from 120 countries cast ballots. Fan voting is one of two steps in the hall’s selection process. The second is an official group of journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers from the sport who vote on the ballot for the hall’s class of 2025.
“I am incredibly grateful to the fans all around the world who supported me during the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan votes,” Sharapova said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor to be considered for the Hall of Fame, and having the fans’ support makes it all the more special.”
Sharapova became the first Russian woman to reach No. 1 in the world. She won Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. She also won the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova was also part of Russia’s championship Fed Cup team in 2008 and won a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
To make the hall, candidates must receive 75% or higher on combined results of the official voting group and additional percentage from the fan vote. Sharapova will have an additional three percentage points from winning the fan vote.
The Bryans, who won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, will have two additional percentage points and Nestor, who won eight Grand Slam doubles titles, will get one extra percentage point.
The hall’s next class will be announced late next month.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed in Carneys Point, New Jersey, on Aug. 29, the evening before they were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.
“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been driving aggressively behind a sedan going just above the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes tailgating, the female driver told police.
When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and veered left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said Superior Court Judge Michael J. Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” caused two deaths.
Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence that the judge said made him a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. Both women are expecting, and both gave moving eulogies at the double funeral on Monday.
