With all the injuries, career detours and mysterious losses, it might be a little hard to remember, but there was a time when anything seemed possible for Canadian tennis.
Every time a tennis fan looked up, it seemed like another exceedingly talented or brave Canadian had reached the Grand Slam final. Bianca Andreescu even won one by beating Serena Williams at the 2019 US Open when she was just a teenager, playing with a style so creative it had tennis aesthetes raving.
Lately, with all the busted knees (Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime), stress fractures (Leylah Fernandez) and mental anguish (Milos Raonic and Andreescu) that so many players are struggling with these days, even Fernandez’s unlikely appearance in the US 2021 Open Finals can feel like a long time ago.
And then there was a day like Wednesday at Wimbledon when the rain finally let up long enough for outdoor tennis to take place, when Shapovalov and Raonic showed why there had been so much excitement in the first place. Both came back from a deficit and won in four sets, giving Shapovalov a chance to reflect on what it had meant to him to be a junior player from a country best known for his skills in ice sports (hockey and curling ) and is known to watch Raonic and Eugenie Bouchard almost made it on the Wimbledon lawn.
“It kind of convinced me and Felix that as a Canadian, it’s possible,” Shapovalov said after beating Moldova’s Radu Albot 5-7 6-4 6-2 6-2 early in the game had mondays. “And I am sure that the generations that will follow me, Felix, Bianca. Leylah, I’m sure there’s a lot more belief in the country that it’s possible even if the country is cold or it’s mostly winter.”
Apparently Canadians missed the string of champions that Sweden, hardly a temperate region, produced in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s like Björn Borg, Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg.
Shapovalov and Raonic, who played and won his first match at a Grand Slam tournament in two and a half years on Monday, defeated Denis Novak of Austria 6-7(5) 6-4 7-6(5) 6- 1, will be back on Thursday. Both men will play second-round matches, as will Fernandez. Also Andreescu will be out there finally playing her first round match against Anna Bondar from Hungary.
Auger-Aliassime, who has struggled with knee pain all year, lost for the second consecutive first round at the All England Club. The nagging injury and recent loss is a major disappointment for Auger-Aliassime, who had a breakout in his late teens and whose powerful serve and movement should allow him to excel on grass.
But a Wimbledon schedule full of Canadians was what the country’s leaders in the sport were striving for when they set out to transform Canada into a top-level tennis country nearly 20 years ago. Long, cold winters aside, Canada seemed to have everything it takes for a country to achieve greatness in tennis — wealth, diversity, and a commitment to spend money building facilities and importing top coaches.
It built a tennis center in Montreal and satellite facilities in other major cities, and began focusing on nurturing young children and youth. It hired Louis Borfiga, a leading tennis player from France and Borg’s batting partner, to oversee player development.
Blessed with the luck of players with natural talent and parents willing to support it, by the mid-2010s Canada had Bouchard and Raonic rolling and Shapovalov, Andreescu and Auger-Aliassime were tearing up the junior rankings, with Fernandez not was far behind.
The success – last year Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime led Canada to its maiden Davis Cup title – and the struggles have created a camaraderie among the players. You know when the others are playing, even if they’re not in the same tournament.
“I owe it to myself to follow the results of all my Canadian compatriots,” said Fernandez, who recalled Auger-Aliassime training a few places down in Montreal a few years ago and thought, “Oh, that’s inspiring.”
When Fernandez got injured last year, one of the first text messages she received was from Andreescu, who appears to have been dealing with all sorts of ailments since winning the 2019 US Open. Andreescu told Fernandez that she was there for her whatever she needed and that Fernandez was going through a tough time but would get through it.
When Andreescu twisted his ankle at the Miami Open earlier this year and suffered a devastating injury, Fernandez immediately sent the brace back. “I was like, ‘Bianca, you’re strong, you’re going to come back, you’re a great tennis player and you’re a great person.'”
On Wednesday, Shapovalov and Raonic met in the dressing room trying to cope with the rain delays that had disrupted the tournament all week.
Raonic said he’s forgotten his old routine because it’s been so long since he’s dealt with anything like this. At first he tried to keep moving to stay loose, but then he thought he might be burning off too much energy.
He sat down for a while with Shapovalov, who whiled away time with his trainer answering animal trivia questions. Raonic jumped into the game and said everyone enjoyed learning which sea creatures can breathe through their behinds. (Tortoise). There has also been a lively argument about the killing power of a mosquito compared to that of sharks. Shapovalov was adamant that sharks are scarier than a malaria-carrying insect.
Eventually the rain subsided along with the zoology debate. It was then time for Raonic to return to the court and claim the victory that once always came, wearing Novak down with his powerful serve and big forehand. Later that afternoon, as Shapovalov found his rhythm with those soft, graceful shots, Albot didn’t stand a chance.
A symbol of how tenuous Canada’s tennis efforts have become is the fact that both Shapovalov and Raonic may not have featured at the All England Club this year.
Shapovalov has been limping on and off for the last few months and was forced to abandon his training on grass when the pain became too severe.
Raonic said his injury struggles in recent years have made him reconcile the idea that his life began after tennis. But he drove past a tennis court near his home in the Bahamas every day, or watched tennis on TV while working out at the local gym, and figured he might as well try again.
On Wednesday he said he was upset with himself for not enjoying the moment of being back at the All England Club and playing at the Grand Slam, where he had his greatest success and helped bring Canada to faith bring. In his words, it was easy to see a broader message about the often fleeting nature of success in a single day or era.
“You’re just caught up in the whole process of competing and trying to find a way to win and that goes by very quickly,” he said. “Then you can’t really enjoy the game.”