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From coast to coast, much of Canada is still feeling the buzz of Bianca Andreescu’s big win at the US Open on Saturday.
The 19-year-old became the first Canadian singles player to win a tennis Grand Slam tournament when she defeated 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams 6-3, 7-5.
A day later, Andreescu’s newest title and meteoric rise through the ranks was all the talk at the Riverside Badminton and Tennis Club in Saskatoon.
Eric Preciado’s two boys William, 15, and David , 13, fell in love with tennis six years ago and have been playing competitively ever since. Preciado knows they are the ones feeling Andreescu’s victory the most.
“It puts it into perspective that there’s no reason why other children around that age can’t do what she’s doing — it just takes a lot of hard work and determination,” Preciado said. “Certainly, I think it’s really inspiring both for boys and girls.”
Preciado thinks Andreescu’s victory could be a tipping point for tennis popularity in Canada, especially considering other young Canadians who are also performing well at some of the biggest tournaments.
“I think you’ll see enrollment probably go up,” he said. “It’s not just Bianca (Andreescu), but Dennis (Shapovalov) is doing really well, and Felix (Auger-Aliassime) is doing really well, so I think Canadian tennis is on the rise. You’re going to see a lot of people playing more and more.”
Celene Sidloski has played tennis for much of her life and wasn’t all that surprised to see Andreescu pose with the championship trophy.
“Canada has had a lot of players who have been raised with a kind of a mentality, humility, resiliency and fortitude without a lot of spotlight put on them too early. That’s probably made it possible for them to develop and really enjoy the sport before the sport is ruined for them from external things,” she said. “I’m not too surprised, but I am very pleased all the same. I didn’t know it would happen so soon.”
Sidloski said tennis in Canada has quietly developed a handful of rising stars through its four regional training centres in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary, which opened its doors in 2017.
“What this really means is even players from the prairie provinces now have that opportunity without making a huge, huge family sacrifice where you completely uproot your family, to go and actually get the best training available in the country,” she said.
Sidloski believes Canada’s next superstar could be from Saskatchewan.
“In Canada, anything can happen. We’ve got incredible coaches in our province, we’ve got great athletes, we’ve got great parents — the tennis community here is very sound.”