While the full extent of the Canadian contingent heading to Paris for the 2025 French Open is still to be finalized, one name that is locked in is Rob Shaw. On Monday, Roland-Garros announced that the quad world No. 8 received a wild card into the 2025 event.
Here is the monthly wheelchair tennis update.
“Extremely excited to be awarded the wild card for Roland-Garros this year,” said Shaw after the news broke. “I always love playing on clay and have fond memories of making the doubles finals there in 2023. I feel like I am playing great tennis at the moment, so looking forward to testing myself against the best in the world.”
The closest Shaw has come to claiming a Grand Slam title came in Paris back in 2023. He and partner Heath Davidson reached the quad doubles final and took the opening set, only to be edged out 10-3 in the match tiebreak by Andy Lapthorne and Donald Ramphadi. It is the only of Shaw’s three major finals where he won a set.
Earlier in April, Shaw was Tennis Canada’s monthly mailbag guest and described playing tennis on clay in a wheelchair.
“Playing on natural surfaces like clay in a wheelchair can definitely be challenging. If the clay courts are of high quality, it is really enjoyable as we have the opportunity to sort of slide out like the standup players do. However, if the clay is really soft or has a heavy top layer, it can be gruelling to push through,” explained Shaw.
CLICK HERE to read Shaw’s full mailbag.
Venos Eyes Another Win in Poland
Thomas Venos leads a group of Canadians who made the trip to Eastern Europe this week for the Plock Orlen Polish Open in Plock, Poland.
Five Canadians are competing. Joining Venos are Patrick Levis, Se Youn Moon, Frédérique Bérubé Perron, and Natalia Lanucha. Lanucha is competing in her first event of 2025, while Bérubé Perron, Moon, and Venos have not played since the Premier Racquet Club Wheelchair Classic in Markham, ON, last month.
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A year ago, Venos won the doubles title in Plock with Sergei Lysov. It was his second ITF doubles title of the year and he went on to win six more.
Play gets underway in Plock on Thursday.
Feature Photo : Martin Sidorjak
