The 10th time was the charm for Thomas Venos in 2025.
After an agonising nine defeats in finals this year, four in singles and five in doubles, Thomas Venos finally got his hands on not one but two ITF trophies at the end of July, his first titles of the year. And for good measure, they came on home soil.
Here is the monthly wheelchair tennis update.
Canada played host to the three ITF tournaments in July: Vancouver, Saint-Hyacinthe, and Windsor. It was at the final one where Venos’ victories finally came.
Seeded second in singles, Venos ended up dominating the field in Southern Ontario, not dropping a set on his way to the title. He beat top-seeded American Conner Stroud 6-3, 7-6(5) to claim the title, his eighth ITF singles title overall.
“Fantastic match from me today. I knew coming in that if I actually hit my shots and moved my opponent I would be successful. This is exactly what I did,” said Venos after the Windsor final. “Everything was going great till near the end of the second set where I let go of some easy match points. But I am very happy I was able to bounce back from that and only needed one match point tonight to win in the tiebreaker.”
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In doubles, Venos partnered with Stroud to claim the title. They won an epic final, beating another Canadian-American pair, Canada’s Barry Henderson and Charlie Cooper of the United States, 12-10 in the match tiebreak. It was Venos’ 15th ITF doubles title.
Venos had nearly had his breakthrough several days earlier at the Saint-Hyacinthe International Open in Quebec, when he reached both the singles and doubles finals but lost both to Cooper (and Frenchman Nicolas Forgacs in doubles).
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Canada dominated the quad division during this stretch of ITF events, with a Canuck winning the title at each of the three tournaments. Mitch McIntyre was victorious on the west coast in Vancouver while Shawn Courchesne kept up his hot summer in the east, winning his third and fourth ITF quad titles of his career, all of which have come since June.
“Strong start, shaky middle, strong end would be the best way to describe my match against a wily veteran who played some smart/great tennis,” analyzed Courchesne after the Windsor final. “Overall very happy with the outcome of the tournament. Definitely have some things I need to improve on to bring my game to the next level. Thank you to my beautiful wife and daughter who made the trip out to Windsor to support and encourage me! “
Here is the full list of winners from the Canadian ITF Wheelchair events in July (Canadian unless otherwise indicated):
| Men’s Singles | Women’s Singles | Quad Singles | Men’s Doubles | Boys Singles |
Vancouver | Charlie Cooper (USA) | Christina Pesendorfer (AUT) | Mitch McIntyre | Charlie Cooper (USA)/ | No Event |
Saint-Hyacinthe | Charlie Cooper (USA) | No Event | Shawn Courchesne | Charlie Cooper (USA)/ | Maximus Wong (USA) |
Windsor | Thomas Venos | No Event | Shawn Courchesne | Charlie Cooper (USA)/ | No Event |
Wheelchair Tennis Hits the NBO
For the first time ever, a wheelchair exhibition event was held at the National Bank Open in Toronto.
Venos, Courchesne, Henderson, Rob Shaw, and Anne-Marie Dolinar all competed at the event, with Dolinar subbing in for the injured Shaw on day three. Venos ultimately walked away the winner, claiming all three of his singles matches.
CLICK HERE for more about the National Bank Open wheelchair tennis event.
Photo : Peter Power
