Tennis Canada announced on Wednesday that its U12, U14, U16 and U18 Junior Nationals will be renamed the Fischer Junior Nationals from 2021 and will remain as strong as ever, thanks to significant investment made by long-time supporters of tennis in Canada, The Green Fischer Family Trust.
Karen Green and George Fischer’s support for Tennis Canada started in 2015 when they became major donors to the organization’s kids’ tennis programs across the country and in the Jane Finch community. In 2018, their burning desire to make a lasting impact on Canada’s high-performance pipeline led to them creating the Future Champions Fund, which helps Canada’s top athletes offset the extreme costs associated with high-performance development.
Karen and George are avid fans of Rogers Cup presented by National Bank and their dedication has seen them travel across the world to cheer on Team Canada. George was part of a strong, vocal contingent of Canadian fans at last year’s Davis Cup Finals in Madrid, where Team Canada reached the final for the very first time in its history.
Now, they have invested $1,000,000 into Tennis Canada’s Junior Nationals, both indoor and outdoor, and will have the events named after them. Their contribution comes at a crucial time for Tennis Canada, after the organization recorded losses of $17 million following the postponement of the 2020 Rogers Cup events in Toronto and Montreal.
“This investment is a representation of our passion for tennis in Canada,” commented George Fischer and Karen Green. “We are determined to do whatever we can to help develop more high-performance players so that we can see more Canadians winning more Grand Slam titles, Olympic medals and our teams make deep runs in the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup. We understand the financial difficulties Tennis Canada is currently experiencing as a result of COVID-19 and we see this investment as a legacy gift that will help immensely in the short-term but also to ensure progress is made in the long-term. We hope that in being made aware of the losses incurred by Tennis Canada as a result of the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that more donors come forward and make similar investments. It is a true honour to have the Junior Nationals renamed the Fischer Junior Nationals.”
“It has been a very difficult year for Tennis Canada,” commented Michael Downey, President and CEO of Tennis Canada. “Following the postponement of our tournaments in Toronto and Montreal, investments in our sport like this from The Green Fischer Family Trust are paramount as we try to work our way out of a $17 Million loss in 2020. We are so grateful to George and Karen for this enormous contribution to the future success of our Junior Nationals events and, in turn, the development of the next generation of Canadian tennis stars. We are very much looking forward to hosting the Fischer Junior Nationals for years to come.”
The first iteration of the Fischer Junior Nationals are scheduled to take place in 2021 but some events may be postponed or cancelled due to the exceptional situation caused by the crisis related to COVID-19.
