2024 could also be coming to an finish, however Thomas Venos wrapped up his yr on the wheelchair tennis circuit with a bang.
The ITF tour made one final cease in Canada to shut out the yr on the Bourassa Savaria Worldwide Open at IGA Stadium in Montreal. Two of the three official attracts have been gained by the host nation.
Venos reached each the lads’s singles and doubles finals, profitable the doubles title with Charlie Cooper of america. The highest-seeded pair gained two of their three matches, together with the ultimate in opposition to Canada’s Shawn Courchesne and American Adil Boutahli, 6-0, 6-0. The lone problem they confronted got here within the semis, the place Venos and Cooper have been pushed to a match tiebreak by an Italian-American staff, which they gained 10-4.
The doubles title was the 25-year-old’s eighth of the yr on the ITF tour.
Within the singles, Venos was the highest seed and received to the ultimate profitable 5 of the six units he performed 6-0. There, he bumped into his doubles associate Cooper, who was victorious in straight units.
Canada’s Anne-Marie Dolinar gained the ladies’s singles occasion, edging out Britain’s Martha Harris within the deciding match.
Learn additionally: 2024 WTA Awards – NBO Energy Rankings Panel’s Model
The ladies’s occasion was a five-player round-robin, with Dolinar and Harris every profitable their first three matches to arrange what was in essence the ultimate within the final match of the occasion. The Canadian narrowly edged out the win 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3 to assert her first ITF singles title.
“At the moment’s match was an absolute marathon,” mentioned Dolinar after the win. “I stayed targeted on my sport plan and am so blissful to have come away with the win. No higher method to end my 2024 season than with my first ITF singles title!”
With solely two pairs signed up for the ladies’s doubles, the occasion didn’t formally rely as an ITF draw. Dolinar and fellow Canadian Natalia Lanucha beat Harris and American Ashley Sisti within the one match that was performed.
Breakthroughs for Venos, Berube Perron
Thomas Venos has been enjoying and profitable on the ITF wheelchair tour for a number of years, however 2024 was by far his greatest season but.
The 25-year-old gained 11 whole titles, greater than doubling his profession whole since he gained his first in 2017.
Learn additionally: 2024 ATP Awards – NBO Energy Rankings Panel’s Model
Eight of these titles got here in doubles, together with 5 wins on residence soil in Boucherville, Kamloops, Saint-Hyacinthe, Fredericton, and Montreal. All eight of his titles got here with totally different companions. Previous to 2024, Venos had simply six whole ITF doubles titles.
He almost doubled his whole of singles titles as nicely. Venos got here into 2024 with 4 singles wins and added three extra this yr. He gained a pair of titles on residence soil in Saint-Hyacinthe and Fredericton, in addition to a title on the Credit score Mutual Open in France.
On account of his success, Venos finishes 2024 at career-high rankings in each singles (No. 47) and doubles (No. 40)
Canadian tennis followers have been launched in 2024 to the younger girl who may very well be their subsequent massive wheelchair star. 18-year-old Frédérique Bérubé Perron burst onto the wheelchair tennis scene this yr with spectacular outcomes at residence and overseas.
In July, she gained her first ITF title, the ladies’s doubles in Kamloops. Per week later at an occasion in Vancouver, she gained each the singles (her first on the ITF tour) and doubles titles.
Later in the summertime, she made historical past by turning into the primary Canadian to qualify for the junior wheelchair draw at a Grand Slam occasion. Bérubé Perron went on to achieve the semifinals of the US Open women wheelchair singles draw.
Earlier within the yr, the teenager made her debut for Staff Canada within the qualifying spherical of the World Staff Cup. Neither the Canadian ladies nor males have been in a position to advance to the world group. Click on right here to learn the qualifying occasion recap.
The 18-year-old finishes 2024 at No. 65 within the ladies’s singles rankings, one spot beneath the career-high she hit in October, and No. 7 within the junior rankings.
Each Venos and Bérubé Perron shone on the Birmingham Nationwide Championships in October as nicely. Venos gained his third consecutive males’s singles title and sixth straight in males’s doubles. Bérubé Perron was topped champion on the senior stage for the primary time, profitable the ladies’s singles in addition to claiming the junior title.
Click on right here to learn the total recap of the Birmingham Nationwide Wheelchair Tennis Championships.
Shaw Continues to Break New Floor
Whereas the youthful Canadians have been making their mark in 2024, Canada’s wheelchair stalwart Rob Shaw continued so as to add to his already spectacular resume.
Shaw gained two singles titles in 2024, together with the most important win of his profession on the ITF 1 Sequence Swiss Open in Geneva, and added 5 doubles trophies. Within the doubles, 4 of his titles have been on the ITF 1 collection stage and the opposite was his first ITF Tremendous Sequence title on the Japan Open. In January, he gained his first-ever singles match in the primary draw of a Grand Slam occasion on the Australian Open.
The 35-year-old represented Canada on the 2024 Summer time Paralympics in Paris, getting his first Paralympic match win as he reached the quarter-finals. At season’s finish, he certified for the NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters, the ITF wheelchair tour’s year-end championships. He finishes 2024 at No. 7 within the quad rankings, matching his career-best year-end end.
For extra detailed data on Canadian wheelchair tennis leads to 2024, try the month-to-month updates (Brackets point out home tournaments lined that month):
Learn additionally: Tennis Canada launches the Wheelchair Tennis Entire Participant Improvement Pathway
