Bianca Andreescu named 2019 Tennis Canada Female Player of the Year

Tennis Canada announced on Wednesday that Bianca Andreescu is the winner of the 2019 Excellence Awards in the categories of Female Player of the Year, Singles Player of the Year and Most Improved Player. In addition, Gabriela Dabrowski has been named once again as the Doubles Player of the Year while Leylah Annie Fernandez is the Junior Player of the Year.

“We would like to offer sincere congratulations to Bianca, Gabriela and Leylah Annie on their impressive accomplishments throughout the year,” stated Michael Downey, President and CEO at Tennis Canada. “2019 has been an exceptional year for tennis in Canada and it is notably thanks to the historic exploits of Bianca that we were able to live extraordinary moments. In addition to her success on the court, she also demonstrated that she is an outstanding ambassador for Canadian tennis. For her part, Gabriela continued to establish herself as one of the best doubles players in the world; while Leylah Annie garnered attention for her results not only in juniors, but also at the professional level. She undoubtedly has a very bright future. We are already impatiently awaiting the start of the 2020 season and we will be closely following their future exploits.”

Andreescu takes home this honour for the second time in three years. She certainly had an exceptional 2019 season which saw her make Canadian tennis history by becoming the first Canadian athlete to capture a singles Grand Slam title when she won the US Open. A few weeks earlier, Andreescu became the first Canadian in 50 years to be crowned champion at the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank, since Faye Urban in 1969. Furthermore, she won her first WTA title in March at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, during what was the beginning of her meteoric rise. The Ontario native, who began the year ranked at no. 152, rose to the no. 4 spot (on October 21). After being named “Newcomer of the Year” by the WTA and becoming the first tennis player to win the prestigious Lou Marsh Trophy, it is no surprise that she also wins the Tennis Canada Excellence Award for Most Improved Female Player.

Dabrowski and Fernandez also honoured

With her doubles ranking of no. 8, Dabrowski is the best doubles player in the country and one of the recognized specialists on the WTA tour. In July, she reached the doubles final at Wimbledon alongside partner Xu Yifan. For a third consecutive year, Dabrowski earned a spot in the year-end WTA Finals which brings together the eight best doubles teams of the year. She also added a WTA title to her collection when she won the Nuremberg Open, bringing her total to nine titles.

For her part, Fernandez, had a lot of success playing on both the junior and professional circuits in 2019. In fact, she reached the final at the Junior Australian Open and became the first Canadian player to win the title at the Junior French Open. Her success at the junior level allowed her to rise to the no. 3 spot in the ITF rankings. At the professional level, the 17-year-old won her first title at the Gatineau National Bank Challenger and followed that up with a run to the final in Granby.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

(Feature photo: Jared Wickerham/Tennis Canada)