Canada’s wheelchair tennis players may have gotten off to a slow start in 2025, but once they got going, the trophies came rolling in. Seven Canadians combined to win 12 titles this year, with all but two of the wins coming in the second half of the season.
Here is the monthly wheelchair tennis update and year-in-review.
Of the seven Canadians who secured ITF titles in 2025, Shawn Courchesne scored the most with four. The Brampton native was red hot during the summer, winning back-to-back quad singles titles at ITF events in Setubal, Portugal in June before bringing his good form home, claiming the quad titles in Saint-Hyacinthe in July and Windsor in August.
Thomas Venos had to wait well into the year to finally secure his first title of the season, reaching nine finals (four singles, five doubles) through the first six and a half months of the season before breaking through in a big way in July. On home soil in Windsor, Venos doubled-up, winning both the singles and doubles titles at the Futures Series event. He added another doubles title in September, winning the ITF event in Gold River, California, with compatriot Barry Henderson.
Rob Shaw continued to add to his legacy in 2025, breaking yet another Canadian record in wheelchair tennis. Shaw scored two titles this year, one in doubles at the Georgia Open and a singles victory at the Birmingham Classic in Toronto. Those victories moved him past Yuka Chokyu for the most total (singles and doubles combined) ITF Wheelchair titles by a Canadian with 54.
Read also: Catching up with 2025 NBO Montreal Champion Victoria Mboko
Natalia Lanucha and Anne-Marie Dolinar joined the list of Canadian winners over the summer. The two Canucks teamed up to win the women’s doubles at the ITF event in Salem, Oregon, their third title together overall and first since 2023. Lanucha had also won a title in Richmond a month earlier.
Canada hosted eight ITF wheelchair events in 2025, with Canadians securing six titles. One of those was from Mitch McIntyre, who won the quad singles title in Vancouver in July to extend his title streak to six years (excluding the COVID-capped 2020 season).
Wheelchair Tennis Makes National Bank Open debut
Venos’ three titles in 2025 do not include another notable victory that came in August. For the first time, a wheelchair exhibition event was held at the National Bank Open at Sobeys Stadium alongside the ATP Masters 1000 event. Venos, Henderson, Shaw, Courchesne, and Dolinar (as a replacement on the final day for the injured Shaw) all competed.
Photo : Peter Power
The event included a singles round-robin as well as a doubles match each day during the three-day event. Venos went undefeated in singles to claim the inaugural title.
CLICK HERE to read the full recap of the National Bank Open wheelchair event.
Birmingham Nationals
The wheelchair season for the Canadian wrapped up in November at the Birmingham National Wheelchair Tennis Championships in Vancouver, where Venos continued his domination at the event. Playing in his home province, the British Columbian won his sixth straight singles title and seventh in a row in doubles, claiming the trophy with Henderson.
Courchesne won the quad singles and doubles titles, claiming the latter with Hisham Mohammad, while Dolinar beat Lanucha for the women’s singles.
CLICK HERE for the full recap of the Birmingham Nationals.
For more detailed information on Canadian wheelchair tennis results in 2025, check out the monthly updates (Brackets indicate domestic tournaments covered that month):
- February
- March
- April (Markham)
- May
- June
- July (Kamloops)
- August (Vancouver, Saint-Hyacinthe, Windsor)
- September (Toronto)
- October (Bedford, Fredericton)
- November (Birmingham Nationals)
Feature Photo : Geoff Robins
