"I thought Canada was just hockey players" - McEnroe amazed by rise of Canadian players
ATPSaturday, 25 February 2023 at 04:00
Updated at Saturday, 11 January 2025 at 16:00
Canadian tennis is in its best era, and a number of players have proved their qualities during the past few seasons.
Currently, the highest-ranked Canadian on the ATP Tour is Felix Auger-Aliassime. The 22-year-old is the World No. 9 player, and he has celebrated a lot of success recently.
One of his wins came in London when he played a crucial role in the Team World as they defeated Team Europe at the 2022 Laver Cup. During a recent interview, John McEnroe spoke about the Canadian tennis and Auger-Aliassime's performance at the Laver Cup.
"I was starting to feel like the Washington Generals playing the Globetrotters. This was getting to be too much. Felix was our MVP last year. He really turned the tide for us big time, beating Novak, winning a huge doubles match. And that was critical for us."
"It seemed like he got a spark from (last year’s) Laver Cup because he went out and had a great fall and showed who was boss out there for the next two, three months. So he’s got to bring that type of energy and willingness to keep improving."
Canada sees a lot of success not only on the ATP Tour. Their colleagues from the WTA Tour played big finals and won big titles recently, too. In 2019, Bianca Andreescu lifted the US Open trophy, and Leylah Fernandez played in the final of the same event two years later.
"We’re like, ‘Wait a minute. What’s going on? I thought Canada was just hockey players, They were better in tennis than we were and we (Americans) were like ‘What the hell’s going on up there?’ Back in my day, you’re like ‘I hope I play a Canadian.’ Not the case anymore."
Another player that enjoys a lot of success is Denis Shapovalov. The 23-year-old already peaked in the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings, but he struggled to maintain the same level for a longer period of time.
"Denis is hugely talented. He’s a good kid, he works at it. At times, he’s a little bit like a chicken with his head cut off — you don’t know exactly what you’re going to get from him, which is difficult to play against."
"You’ve seen signs with Denis that he can go a long way. And I wouldn’t say he couldn’t win a major. He could absolutely win a major. But he’s got to shore up a couple things in his mind and be able to sort of, as seldomly as possible, beat himself. I firmly believe he could be in the top 10."
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