On Monday, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and Tennis Canada selected three athletes to represent Canada at the 2019 Pan American Games. The tennis tournament will take place from July 29 to August 4, in Lima, Peru.
The composition of the Canadian team was determined based on the WTA rankings as of June 10, 2019 and on player’s expression of interest to participate.
Canada will be represented by three athletes: Rebecca Marino (Vancouver, BC), Alexandra Vagramov (Vancouver, BC) and Jada Bui (Toronto, ON). Marino is the highest ranked player on the team by virtue of her world no. 143 ranking. The former no. 38 made a return to tennis in 2018 after an absence of over five years. During her comeback, she has won six ITF Challenger titles, including a 60K event earlier this year. She also took part in the Fed Cup tie between Canada and the Czech Republic this past April as well as the qualifications at the French Open and Australian Open.
Vagramov and Bui, aged 18 and 17 respectively, compete regularly on both the professional and junior circuits. Vagramov broke into the Top 100 in the ITF junior rankings for the first time at the start of 2019 (no. 86) and is currently ranked no. 118. She has also made a few deep runs at professional tournaments this year, notably reaching the semi-finals and quarter-finals of two 15K tournaments held in Cancun, Mexico. Thanks to these performances, the 18-year-old has a WTA ranking of no. 741.
Bui, who sits at the no. 759 spot in the WTA rankings, is also ranked no. 227 in the juniors after moving up to no. 196 in February. She recently reached the quarter-finals of a Grade 3 junior tournament in Vancouver.
In addition to taking part in the singles competition, Bui and Vagramov will team-up for doubles.
It was in 2015 that Canada got their best result at the Pan American Games. The event was held at the AVIVA Centre in Toronto, home of the Rogers Cup. Canada took home two medals, notably thanks to Gabriela Dabrowski (Ottawa, ON), who was crowned women’s doubles champion alongside Carol Zhao (Richmond Hill, ON) as well as winning a silver medal in mixed doubles playing with Philip Bestor (Burnaby, BC).
The athletes and coach selected are:
Jada Bui (Toronto, Ont.) – Singles/Doubles
Rebecca Marino (Vancouver, B.C.) – Singles
Alexandra Vagramov (Vancouver, B.C.) – Singles/Doubles
Roberto Brogin (North Vancouver, B.C.) – Coach
