How to describe the last 12 months on the tennis scene in Canada? A year to forget? Certainly not! An extraordinary year? Neither. There's only one conclusion left: it's somewhere in between.
Of all the highlights of 2024 in Canadian tennis, we will remember a moment of celebration, a prestigious title, advancements in the rankings on the part of young hopefuls, but also hoped-for progressions which did not materialize on the part of players among the most prominent Canadians.
To this, we could add the episodes of rain during the Montreal portion of the National Bank Open, including a full day without a single match. That didn't stop more than 226,000 spectators from occupying the stands of the IGA stadium, but the word “roof” was once again circulating on a daily basis almost everywhere on the site!
The moment of celebration and the prestigious title come through a name: Gabriela Dabrowski. But she didn't do things solo.
The athlete from Ottawa first joined forces with Montrealer Félix Auger-Aliassime to win the bronze medal in the mixed doubles at the Paris Olympic Games, on August 2 on the clay court of the Roland-Garros stadium. .
Then, in November, in Saudi Arabia, Dabrowski secured a first Canadian triumph at the WTA Finals by winning the doubles with her New Zealand partner Erin Routliffe.
These exploits by Dabrowski, now third in the world in women's doubles, capped a period of great success in women's doubles for the Ottawa native.
It all started in September 2023 with his triumph in the US Open final alongside Routliffe.
Strongly supported by the New Zealander, Dabrowski reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open in early 2024, the ultimate match at Wimbledon in July, and the finals of two WTA 1000 category tournaments, including the National Bank Omnium, in August in Toronto.
Paris Olympics
But the highlight of the tennis year in Canada remains the bronze medal for Dabrowski and Auger-Aliassime at the Paris Games.
“A big goal was to get back on the map on the Olympic side, and for us to achieve the medal in Paris was really a big achievement. It was something we had been waiting for for 24 years,” recognized Guillaume Marx, vice-president of high performance, referring to the gold medal of Sébastien Lareau and Daniel Nestor, in doubles, at the Sydney Games. 2000.
The day after this tour de force, Auger-Aliassime came very close to doubling the Canadian harvest. However, he lost in the men's singles bronze medal match.
Auger-Also
Surprisingly, perhaps, Auger-Aliassime had his best moments of 2024 on clay with 17 wins in 25 matches.
Among the four Grand Slam tournaments, it was at the French Open where he obtained his best result, reaching the fourth round.
Auger-Aliassime also achieved a career first by reaching the final of a Masters 1000, that of Madrid, in April, also on clay.
On the other hand, Auger-Aliassime did not succeed in doing well on hard courts, particularly during major tournaments.
Two years after an exceptional season on this surface, where he posted a 45-16 record, Auger-Aliassime has won only 15 matches out of 30 in 2024.
This performance may explain why he finished at the same place where he started the year in the ATP rankings, i.e. 29eand concluded his season with a record of 32-25, including a defeat in the opening round, for a second year in a row, at the United States Open.
In difficult circumstances, moreover, he showed up in Montreal for the National Bank Open, which immediately followed the Olympic Games and which required a rapid adaptation because of the change of surface.
Despite his good intentions, Auger-Aliassime was never in the game, losing in two sets in his first match against the Italian Flavio Cobolli, in front of a disappointed public who hoped to see him achieve something great after his performances at the Paris Games.
Of all the Banque Nationale
The National Bank Open was also difficult for the Canadians in Montreal, and the Canadians in Toronto. Like Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov, Gabriel Diallo and Vasek Pospisil did not make it past the first round, while Milos Raonic withdrew even before his first match.
In Toronto, Bianca Andreescu and Rebecca Marino also lost in the first round, while Laval's Leylah Annie Fernandez and young Marina Stakusic were shown the exit door in the second round.
Fernandez
In 2024, Fernandez made a sixth career final, at the Eastbourne grass court tournament, and reached the third round of the women's singles at the Paris Games.
By the end of the year, however, she had moved up only three places — from 34e at 31e position — in relation to its rank on January 1, 2024.
Succession
Among the next generation, Diallo and Stakusic have made interesting progress.
Diallo, a six-foot-eight giant who is just 23 years old, has cracked the top 100 and is ranked 87th, helped by a third-round appearance at the U.S. Open after he started the year in 139th place.
As for Stakusic, she went from 275th place to 125th in 12 months, and is ahead of former great champion Andreescu, who is now ranked 132nd.
Furthermore, Canada was unable to repeat its exploits of the last two years in the two most important team competitions.
In the Davis Cup, Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov were sublime during the group stage in September to ensure the country's qualification for the elimination phase.
However, in the absence of Auger-Aliassime, Canada suffered elimination in the quarter-finals against Germany in mid-November in Malaga, Spain.
At the same place, a few days earlier, the Canadians, reigning champions, had also lost in the quarter-finals of the Billie-Jean-King Cup, against Great Britain.
Internationale
On the international scene, the famous Big Three of men's tennis have taken another step towards their official disappearance after around two decades of extraordinary supremacy.
Thus ended the glorious career of Rafael Nadal, whose very last match – a 6-4, 6-4 loss to the Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp – took place at home in Spain as part of the Davis Cup, November 18.
The only member of the Big Three still active, Novak Djokovic was cleared during the Grand Slam tournaments. The 37-year-old Serbian, however, added the last jewel missing from his rich list of achievements, the Olympic gold medal in the men's singles thanks to a victory in two sets against the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz.
The year 2024 ended with two new number 1s in singles. On the ATP circuit, the Italian Jannik Sinner, winner of two of the four Grand Slam tournaments – Alcaraz won the other two – dislodged Djokovic, who slipped to seventh place.
Among the women, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka overtook Poland's Iga Swiatek at the top of the WTA rankings, helped by triumphs at the Australian Open and the US Open.
Italy also won the Davis Cup and the Billie-Jean-King Cup.
