Welcome to Tennis Canada’s monthly mailbag for February, 2025. This month, Tennis Canada's Vice-President of High Performance, Guillaume Marx, is answering questions about his coaching career and the state of Canada's players.
How impressed have you been with the strong start to the season by our women transition players like Victoria Mboko, Carson Branstine, etc.? What has been the key to their collective success?
I think they feel a lot of determination. I see it in what they do. There is also Kayla [Cross] who had a good end to last season, who is No. 253, close to entering the Grand Slam qualifiers. Their goal now is to enter the grand slam qualifiers because there, you are in the bigger pond. And so, I think she sees that it's possible and that’s where their determination comes from. I think that every season they have a plan and then they manage to solidify their ranking.
There is Marina [Stakusic] who is 114. Victoria is 212 currently. Carson is 223, Kayla 253 so it's very interesting, 10 girls in the 300. There is also Cadence Brace who is Top 300 this week so we are confident. I think there is a small effect maybe of training. We are always better when we are not alone.
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Denis and Felix have rebounded nicely in 2025. What have you seen from them that makes you think they will be able to keep performing at a high level?
What I see is I think that, in the end, they were a little more affected than we realized by the fact that often they played without necessarily being one hundred percent and that therefore it takes time. The margins are thin at the moment between the players and you have to be good. I think that in fact they are better physically than they were a year, a year and a half ago, and it makes a difference.
In Denis' case, I think the direction his game is taking, especially what we saw in Dallas and Belgrade at the end of last year, is interesting because he still tries to stay offensive all the time, being more solid. That's what was lacking. So he defends more and it's already bearing fruit.
When evaluating a young aspiring player, what are you looking for? Are there any signs that imply this kid could be the real deal?
Of course, at some point you have to have a certain level anyway, so there are minimum results. After that, there are some aspects for which we can be more patient. It's about physical development in general.
We're looking for players on whom we feel that there has been a great physical development still to be done, who has room for improvement on that and I think we're looking for players who are determined, who have drive, someone who has a project, who knows he or she wants a career in tennis. I would say that it is the combination of these factors.
How do you see the transition from U10 to U12 as they become more competitive, as they play more matches? What are the keys to continue development?
I think that clearly, between U10, U12, as you start to compete, the key is for the child to find the fun in the fact of competing. For me, it's the most important thing that the match doesn't become a mountain, something negative too often. If it's negative, it must be rare. At that age, the whole experience has to be positive.
Any fun stories from your time traveling with Milos Raonic?
It was a very special experience. I think Milos is an endearing person, very intelligent. I quickly realized that he is smarter than me. And so I had to approach working with him in a unique way because, as he was very cerebral and intelligent, he couldn’t stand to play badly. He couldn't stand imperfection, which meant I had to find new solutions to help him when he wasn't playing at his best. He forced me to work a lot on myself to both try to make him understand that he had to evolve and at the same time accept the fact that he was like that. It was always a balance between the two.
Today, Milos is someone who is extremely organized and that was not necessarily the case back then. He was trying to find himself and he found his performance by a spell of ultra organization that he struggled to find when he was young. When he was really young, he had trouble putting it in place, and that came gradually.
At what point when coaching Félix Auger-Aliassime did you know that he was going to be a star?
I don't think you have to be a tennis expert to have identified that at 13, 14 he was something special. I'm far from the only one to have detected that there was something special about him. The first time was a training session on the clay courts of the center, probably on a Saturday morning, where he was playing with a much older, professional player, but I can’t remember who it was.
Even then, at 13, 14 years old, he trained so professionally in terms of commitment, investment, regularity, etc. I was with Martin Laurendeau and we were really impressed. When you are impressed at that age by the commitment and the quality of the level, it means something.
How do you stay calm when a player you are coaching is playing a big match?
I'm not calm at all, actually, when I watch a match. You have to be still of course. At the same time, from time to time, you have to be reactive because you also have to shake your player sometimes. There are matches when you are calmer than others, but, in the end, I don't think I have ever been really calm during a match. There's a lot of nervousness.
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