Photo : Rackets & Golf
The last four weeks was one of the best stretches of the entire year for Canada’s juniors on the ITF tour. Overall, 18 different Canadians reached finals, the second-most in a month this year. They combined to reach 22 finals across all disciplines, winning ten titles, both single-month bests in 2024.
Here is your monthly junior update by Har-Tru.
16-year-old Xavier Massotte led the way, reaching five finals and winning four of them.
He reached the singles finals in back-to-back J30 events in Guatemala, winning the first, and followed it up with another singles win in San Jose, Costa Rica. In San Jose, he teamed up with his twin brother Loic to go back-to-back in the doubles draws. The four titles over the last month were the first of his career on the ITF Tour.
The Canadians also acquitted themselves well at a J30 event in Montego Bay. Mirka Delaney swept the event, winning both the singles (in an all-Canadian final against Emy Gauvin) and doubles titles. Her doubles win came alongside fellow Canadian Lola Emilie Bean.
Here is the full list of Canadians who reached finals over the last month (Titles in bold)
- Xavier Massotte: J30 Guatemala 1 boys singles champion, J30 Guatemala 2 boys singles runner-up, J30 San Jose 2 boys singles champion, J30 San Jose 1 boys doubles champion (w/ L. Massotte), J30 San Jose 2 boys doubles champion (w/ L. Massotte)
- Mirka Delaney: J30 Montego Bay girls singles champion (d. Gauvin), J30 Montego Bay girls doubles champion (w/ Bean)
- Laurence Demers: J30 Guatemala 2 girls singles champion, J30 Guatemala 1 girls doubles champion (w/ Tardif)
- Loic Massotte: J30 San Jose 1 boys doubles champion (w/ X. Massotte), J30 San Jose 2 boys doubles champion (w/ X. Massotte)
- Justine Tardif: J30 Guatemala 1 girls doubles champion (w/ Demers)
- Adam Patry: J30 Guatemala 1 boys doubles champion (d. Lee)
- Lola Emilie Bean: J30 Montego Bay girls doubles champion (w/ Delaney)
- Avery Alexander: J30 San Jose 2 girls singles champion
- Neda Rahimkhani: J100 Arequipa girls doubles runner-up
- Jerry Han: J60 Armenia boys singles runner-up, J60 Pereira boys doubles runner-up
- Jay Lin Gibson: J60 Manila City boys singles runner-up
- Emy Gauvin: J30 Montego Bay girls singles runner-up (l. To Delaney)
- Dani Szabo: J30 Dunakeszi boys singles runner-up, J 30 Szabolcsveresmart boys singles runner-up, J30 Szabolcsveresmart boys doubles runner-up
- Matthew Jian Hao Lee: J30 Guatemala 1 boys doubles runner-up (l. To Patry)
- Aaron-Davis Mefire Younzwe: J30 Yaounde boys doubles runner-up
- Natalie Velits: J30 Abidjan girls doubles runner-up
- Ashvini Tara Gopalan: J30 San Jose girls doubles runner-up
- Marylee Longpre: J30 Luque girls singles runner-up
Overall in 2024, Canadians combined to reach approximately 131 finals across all levels and disciplines on the ITF Tour in 2024 outside of Canada, winning 62 titles.
The biggest victories by Canadians on the ITF circuit in 2024 came at the J200 level. Abroad, Emma Dong won a pair of J200 doubles titles in Mexico, one in Veracruz with fellow Canadian Zoya Chulak and one in Tampico with American Nancy Lee. Raphaelle Leroux also won a J200 doubles title in St. Poelten, Austria.
Nadia Lagaev won the biggest singles titles of the year by a Canadian on the ITF Tour. She was the lone Canadian to win a singles title at the J200 level, doing so twice, both times on home soil in Woodbridge, ON, and Montreal, QC.
She also reached a J300 doubles final in Lima, Peru, the biggest final contested by a Canadian girl in 2024. Twins Mikael and Nicholas Arseneault matched the feat on the boys side, reaching the J300 doubles final in San Jose, Costa Rica.
On home soil, Canada played host to 19 ITF Junior events in 2024. Canadians won 51 of the 76 draws at home ITF events this year. The biggest of those tournaments was the J300 Internationaux Junior Banque Nationale de Repentigny, where the highlight was an all-Canadian doubles final won by the Arseneaults.
The future of Team Canada
Canada competed at the major junior team events in 2024, reaching the Finals of both the Billie Jean King Cup Juniors and the boys ITF World Junior Tennis event.
The U16 girls competing in the Billie Jean King Cup Juniors got off to a tough start, failing to advance out of the group stage but winning their last two ties to salvage a 13th-place finish. Click here to read the full event recap.
In August, the U14 boys struggled at the ITF World Junior Tennis Finals, finishing 15th. Click here to read the full event recap.
Canada’s Davis Cup Juniors team and girls World Junior Tennis squad both failed to qualify for their respective finals. Click here to read about the qualifying round.
National Championships
Canada held its two annual Fischer Junior Nationals in March (indoors) and August (outdoors) of this year. Click the links below to read the tournament recaps:
Rankings Update
Nadia Lagaev finished as the top Canadian in the ITF junior rankings at No. 61. She could have finished higher in the junior rankings but in the final months of 2024, the 16-year-old began contesting events on the women’s tour rather than the junior tour, including reaching her first senior final at a W15 in Antalya, Turkey. She also reached the quarter-finals of the W75 in Saguenay as a wildcard.
Emma Dong finished just 11 spots behind Lagaev at No. 72.
On the boys side, Nicolas Arsenealt was the lone Canadian to finish inside the Top 100 at No. 85.
Check out the full ITF junior rankings here.
For more detailed information on Canadian junior tennis results in 2024, check out the monthly updates by Har-Tru (Brackets indicate domestic tournaments covered that month):
