2025 wheelchair tennis teams announced as part of National High Performance and National Development Programs

Tennis Canada today announced the eight wheelchair tennis players who will be part of its National High Performance Program (NHPP), as well as the five National Development Program (NDP) team members.

Introduced in 1998, the NHPP is made up of the best Canadian players who compete on the international stage throughout the year, including Paralympic and Parapan Am Games as well as World Team Cup. To build the pool of high-performance athletes, Tennis Canada launched the NDP in 2023 to help up-and-coming players by providing them with funding, access to courts, and specialized training and coaching.

“We are very fortunate to have such a talented group of athletes to continue to work with, and we look forward to welcoming the new faces to our NHPP and NDP teams,” said Kai Schrameyer, National Coach of Wheelchair Tennis at Tennis Canada. “Canadian wheelchair tennis keeps on progressing and reaching new milestones, as we saw last year with nine players ranked inside the world’s Top 100. We were also able to witness the hard work of one of our 2024 NDP players pay off, as Frédérique burst onto the wheelchair tennis scene with a best-ever Canadian junior girls’ ranking of No. 7, as well as an appearance at a junior Grand Slam tournament. I and the rest of the team at Tennis Canada can’t wait to see what’s in store for our amazing NHPP and NDP members this upcoming season.”

The eight players part of the 2025 NHPP class include returning members Anne-Marie Dolinar, Natalia Lanucha, Thomas Venos, Barry Henderson, Shawn Courchesne, Rob Shaw, and Mitch McIntyre, as well as former NDP member Frédérique Bérubé Perron. Last season, these athletes reached new heights, whether it be career-best titles or all-time high rankings. Among the highlights were an 11-title season for Venos (three singles, eight doubles), Shaw reaching his first Paralympic quarter-final, and Bérubé Perron’s historic achievement of becoming the first Canadian to qualify for a junior wheelchair draw at a Grand Slam event.

Tennis Canada’s 2025 NDP group will consist of Hisham Mohammad, John Chen, Lachlan Sandford, and new players Se Youn Moon and Patrick Levis. Each of them reached career-high rankings in their respective divisions in 2024, while Chen also claimed his first title on the ITF junior circuit.

Under Schrameyer’s leadership, national development coaches Christian Gingras and Sarah Hunter are supporting the growth of NHPP and NDP players in their home provinces. Gingras, a long-time wheelchair tennis coach, is focusing on players in Quebec and Ontario, while Hunter, a former quad division world No. 2, is helping those in British Columbia.

National High-Performance Program players

• Anne-Marie Dolinar (ON), women’s world No. 51
• Natalia Lanucha (QC), women’s world No. 65
• Frédérique Bérubé Perron (QC), women’s world No. 67
• Thomas Venos (BC), men’s world No. 48
• Barry Henderson (BC), men’s world No. 83
• Shawn Courchesne (ON), men’s world No. 111
• Rob Shaw (ON), quad world No. 7
• Mitch McIntyre (BC), quad world No. 25

National Development Program players

• Se Youn Moon (BC), men’s world No. 114
• Patrick Levis (BC), men’s world No. 141
• John Chen (BC), men’s world No. 275
• Hisham Mohammad (ON), quad world No. 55
• Lachlan Sandford (BC), boys’ world No. 29