Stakusic Making Major Debut; Six Canadians at Wimbledon

Photo : ITF

The next step in Marina Stakusic’s development will come at Wimbledon, where she is one of six Canadians competing in the third Grand Slam event of 2024.

Representing Canada at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships in the singles draw, which was made on Friday morning, are Stakusic, Leylah Annie Fernandez, Bianca Andreescu, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Denis Shapovalov. Gabriela Dabrowski is seeded second in the doubles draw alongside her partner Erin Routliffe of New Zealand. Fernandez and Shapovalov will also take part in the doubles event.

Stakusic will be making her first appearance in a Grand Slam main draw after coming through qualifying for the first time in her career. In her three qualifying wins, she had a gritty comeback from a set and break down in round two against 16^th seed Chloe Paquet sandwiched by two blowout wins over Carole Monnet and Amarni Banks in which she lost a combined four games.

It is the second major in a row where a Canadian qualified for their first Grand Slam event.

The 19-year-old had her breakthrough performance last fall at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, where she played a pivotal role in Canada’s historic title win. In the opening round at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, she faces 27th seed and eight-time Grand Slam doubles champion Katerina Siniakova of Czechia.

Should Stakusic progress past the second round, a challenging third-round match against world No. 1 Iga Swiatek potentially awaits.

Fernandez will spearhead the women’s singles draw, entering as the 30th seed. The 21-year-old Lavaloise is currently in the finals of a WTA 500 event on grass courts in Eastbourne, Great Britain, after defeating American and world No. 12 Madison Keys in the semifinals. Fernandez will look to carry this momentum into Wimbledon, starting her run against Italian Lucia Bronzetti in the opening round.

Should she advance, she could face wildcard Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark or American qualifier Alicia Parks in the second round. Fourth seed and 2022 champion Elena Rybakina looms in round three.

The Canadian No. 1 is making just her third appearance at the All England Club. Her best result was last year when she made the second round.

In doubles, Fernandez will team up with Japan’s Ena Shibahara.

Former world No. 4 Andreescu has looked strong since returning to the circuit after a 10-month hiatus. Impressively, the former US Open champion reached the third round of the French Open and the finals of a WTA 250 event in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, where she defeated Naomi Osaka in the quarter-finals.

Entering Wimbledon under her protected ranking, Andreescu will face Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian in the first round. A potential third-round match could see her seeking revenge against French Open finalist Jasmine Paolini of Italy. The Italian won their round-three clash at Roland-Garros in three sets.

If Andreescu gets revenge on Paolini, her projected round four opponent would be No. 12 seed Madison Keys. She is in the bottom quarter of the draw with world No. 2 Coco Gauff.

In each of her last two appearances at the All England Club, Andreescu lost to an eventual finalist: champion Elena Rybakina in the second round in 2022 and runner-up Ons Jabeur in 2023 in the third round.

Dabrowski, teaming up with Routliffe, enters the doubles draw as the second-highest-ranked team. The pair has shown formidable form, capturing the US Open Championships last year, a recent title at a WTA 250 event in Nottingham, Great Britain, and will go for another grass title on Saturday in Eastbourne.

Dabrowski aims to go one better than her 2019 Wimbledon result, where she lost in the doubles final.

On the men’s side, Auger-Aliassime is seeded 17th and looks to build on his recent successes, including a round of 16 appearance at the French Open and a final at the ATP 1000 in Madrid. However, this will be his first event since Roland-Garros, where he suffered a leg injury.

The Montrealer, who begins his 2024 push against Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis, will look to surpass his 2021 Wimbledon performance, where he reached the quarter-finals.

Auger-Aliassime faces a difficult road at the All-England Club. He could face s-Hertogenbosch champion Alex de Minaur in the third round, Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in the last eight and world No. 2 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.

Shapovalov, using his protected ranking, returns to Wimbledon where he reached the semifinals in 2021, losing to eventual champion Djokovic.

In the first round, he faces 19th-seeded Nicolas Jarry of Chile. A potential fourth-round clash with world No. 1 Jannik Sinner could be in the cards, although he may have to get through hard-serving 14^th seed Ben Shelton in the third round.

In doubles, Shapovalov partners with Kokkinakis, marking his doubles debut at Wimbledon.

Four Canadians were defeated in qualifying. Gabriel Diallo, who qualified for his first major last month in Paris, and Alexis Galarneau both fell in round two, while Rebecca Marino and Carol Zhao were beaten in the first round.

Wimbledon has historically been one of the most successful majors for Canadians. It was the first major where a Canadian reached a Grand Slam singles final (Eugenie Bouchard in 2014) and is still the only Slam where a Canadian man has reached the title match (Milos Raonic in 2016).

Shapovalov had his best career run at a major at the All England Club when he reached the semis, while Auger-Aliassime made his first Grand Slam quarter-final at the event, both in 2021.

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Tennis Canada