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For a minute there, it looked like 2025 would go down as a pretty forgettable year for Canadian tennis.
Sure, there were several nice victories in lower-tier events: Felix Auger-Aliassime won a couple of ATP 250 tournaments back in January, Denis Shapovalov grabbed his first ATP 500 title in Dallas and added a 250-pointer in Mexico, Gabriel Diallo captured his first ATP trophy by winning a 250 in the Netherlands, and Leylah Fernandez won a WTA 500 in Washington, D.C. in mid-July for the biggest of her four career titles.
But, heading into the twin Canadian Open tournaments in Montreal and Toronto at the end of last month, no Canadian singles player had reached even the semifinals of a WTA or ATP 1000 — the most prestigious and lucrative tier of full-field events apart from the Grand Slams. And the Slams have not been great either: no Canadian men advanced past the second round at the Australian Open, the French Open or Wimbledon, while the best result in women’s singles was a third-round showing by Fernandez at the Aussie.
In short, when the bright lights turned on and the competition got tougher, Canada’s players did not level up.
Of course, that all changed a couple weeks ago when Vicky Mboko stunned the tennis world by winning the women’s Canadian Open in Montreal — a WTA 1000 event. Ranked 88th in the world going in, the 18-year-old from Burlington, Ont., became the youngest woman since Serena Williams in 1999 to knock off four Grand Slam winners in the same tournament. Mboko’s magical run to her first WTA title included upsets of then world No. 2 Coco Gauff and, in the final, Naomi Osaka, a four-time major champion and former No. 1.
WATCH | Mboko sits down with CBC Sports to discuss Canadian Open victory:
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With that incredible victory, Mboko soared to a Canadian-high 24th in the world rankings — almost unimaginable heights for someone who began the year at No. 350 before winning five titles in six starts on the lower-level ITF Tour. After graduating to the WTA Tour full-time, she made an impressive Grand Slam debut at the French Open, reaching the third round, and followed that up with a second-round showing at Wimbledon last month before her big breakthrough in Montreal.
Now it’s time for Mboko, who turns 19 on Tuesday, to make her U.S. Open debut. Singles play at the final major of the year begins Sunday in New York, where Mboko will try to follow in the footsteps of Bianca Andreescu, who beat Serena Williams in the women’s final here in 2019 to become Canada’s first (and still only) Grand Slam singles champion. Not to get everyone’s hopes up, but that year Andreescu also won the Canadian Open as an unseeded teenager.
Mboko received the No. 22 seed when the brackets were unveiled this afternoon. But she drew a pretty tough opponent in Czech veteran Barbora Krejcikova, a two-time Grand Slam champion who won Wimbledon last year and was ranked as high as second in the world in 2022. This year, a back injury kept Krejcikova out until May, causing her ranking to fall from 10th at the end of 2024 to 61st at the moment.
If Mboko gets past Krejcikova she’ll face another unseeded opponent in the second round, then potentially 10th-seeded American Emma Navarro in the third. Fifth-seeded Russian Mirra Andreeva looms as a potential fourth-round foe, and Mboko could meet 2024 U.S. Open finalist Jessica Pegula of the United States, seeded fourth, in the quarterfinals.
Other Canadians to watch
Joining Mboko in the women’s singles draw is Fernandez, seeded 31st. She’ll open against a to-be-determined qualifier or lucky loser and would likely face top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the third round if she makes it that far.
Fernandez had a surprising run to the U.S. Open women’s final in 2021, losing to Britain’s Emma Raducanu. But she’s made it past the second round of a Grand Slam just three times in the past four years, highlighted by a quarterfinal appearance at the 2022 French Open.
Rebecca Marino, Carol Zhao and Cadence Brace were still alive in women’s qualifying as of this afternoon. If they win today, they’ll play for a spot in the main draw on Friday.
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All three Canadians in the men’s tournament are seeded. Auger-Aliassime (No. 25) will face a TBD qualifier/lucky loser in the first round. Shapovalov (27) opens against 94th-ranked Hungarian Marton Fucsovics, while Diallo (31) meets 60th-ranked Bosnian Damir Dzumhur.
The doubles draws have not been revealed yet, but Canada’s Gaby Dabrowski and her teammate Erin Routliffe of New Zealand can expect to be among the top seeds after winning the Cincinnati Open last week for their sixth trophy together and first in a WTA 1000 event. They won the U.S. Open in 2023 for their first (and still only) Slam title and reached the Wimbledon final last year.
Dabrowski also captured an Olympic mixed doubles bronze medal with Auger-Aliassime last year in Paris. The New Zealand-born Routliffe grew up mostly in Canada and represented the country internationally before switching allegiances in her early 20s.
International players to watch
Sabalenka, the world No. 1 from Belarus, is back to defend her women’s title after defeating Pegula last year for her first U.S. Open title and third Grand Slam. Her 2023 and ’24 Australian Open victories also came on hardcourt surfaces.
Sabalenka will be challenged by second-ranked Iga Swiatek of Poland, who turned around a rough year by winning Wimbledon for the first time and then captured the Cincinnati Masters title this week. Her six Slam victories include four French Opens and the 2022 U.S. Open.
Gauff, who beat Sabalenka to win this year’s French Open, is seeded third. The American lost in the first round at Wimbledon and then fired her coach just days before the U.S. Open, which she won in 2023.
Also, 45-year-old Venus Williams received a wild-card entry to play in her first Grand Slam in two years. The seven-time Grand Slam champion, who won back-to-back U.S. Opens in 2000 and 2001, will be the oldest singles player in the tournament since transgender pioneer Renée Richards competed at age 47 in 1981. Williams recently returned to the tour after a 16-month absence during which she had surgery to remove growths on her uterus. She’ll play 11th-seeded Czech Karolína Muchova in the first round.
On the men’s side, top-ranked Jannik Sinner of Italy and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain are on course for another championship clash. With Novak Djokovic finally aging out, the Sinner-Alcaraz rivalry has taken over men’s tennis. They’ve combined to win seven straight Grand Slams, with Sinner holding a 4-3 edge. The red-headed Italian won his first U.S. Open last year, beating American Taylor Fritz in the final after Alcaraz lost in the second round.
The rivalry really blossomed this year with their epic 5½-hour battle in the French Open final. Alcaraz trailed two sets to none and later overcame triple match point to rally for his fifth Slam title, including the 2022 U.S. Open. But Sinner got him back at Wimbledon, taking their final in four sets for his fourth major.
Alcaraz and Sinner met again in the final in Cincinnati on Monday, but the rematch was spoiled when Sinner quit due to an illness after falling behind 5-0 in the first set.
Djokovic, 38, will take another shot at capturing his 25th Grand Slam singles title to overtake Margaret Court for the all-time record. His last major victory came at the 2023 U.S. Open, and he was eliminated in the semifinals at all three Slams this year, with Sinner knocking him out at the French and Wimbledon. Djokovic is seeded seventh.
