Starting on Thursday, the Birmingham National Wheelchair Tennis Championships take over the UBC Tennis Centre in Vancouver, BC, and Thomas Venos has the chance to continue his dominant run at the event, this time in his home province.
The Anmore-native has hoisted the men’s singles trophy for five straight years and enters the 2025 edition as the top seed. Last year’s runner-up Barry Henderson comes in as the second seed.
The round robin features 14 players split into four groups, with the top two in each group advancing to the quarter-finals.
Henderson and Venos are looking for a third straight title as a team in doubles. The British Columbians received a bye into the semifinal while six other teams compete to join the pair. John Chen and Se Youn Moon are the No. 2 seeds.
Venos is not the only player with a pair of titles to defend as Mitch McIntyre aims to hold on to his quad singles and doubles championships.
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Three players will try to prevent a third straight singles title for McIntyre. Hisham Mohammad, Lachlan Sandford, and Shawn Courchesne make up the rest of the field. The four will compete in a round robin, with the group winner securing silverware.
McIntyre and Mohammad, the defending doubles champions, split up this year meaning a new team will hoist the trophy. McIntyre partners with Ryan Schweizer while Mohammad teams up with Courchesne. Sandford and Zachary Madell complete the three-team round robin.
On the women’s side, a new champion will be crowned in singles as Frédérique Bérubé-Perron is not a part of this year’s field. Anne-Marie Dolinar and Natalia Lanucha each look to re-enter the winner’s circle after Bérubé-Perron broke their run in 2024. Prior to last year, Dolinar and Lanucha combined to win every Birmingham Nationals singles title since 2018.
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However, this year could see another new champion as Vicki Lee Morton rounds out the trio competing in the singles round robin.
Feature Photo: Barry McCluskey
