15th season in full swing
Last fall, Tennis Canada kicked off the 15th season of its National Tennis Centre presented by Rogers (NTC), which opened its doors in 2007. Since the first iteration led by Louis Borfiga, the NTC has been home to over 50 athletes and proven itself by helping some of its players ascend to the highest spheres of international tennis.
“Nearly 15 years ago, Tennis Canada inaugurated the very first National Tennis Centre, with a full-time program designed for the nation’s best athletes between the ages of 14 and 18 to provide them with training, education, coaching and sport science resources to succeed at the highest levels of our sport,” said Hatem McDadi, Senior Vice President of Tennis Development. “Thanks to the support of all the partners involved in athlete development, we can say our investment paid off. We can be proud of our Centre and work done in the private sector to help Canadian tennis thrive at the highest level, it will be important to continue to work together to prepare tomorrow’s players and consolidate Canada’s position in the global arena.”
The NTC by the numbers since its inauguration
- 53 athletes trained at the NTC (including the athletes currently training)
- 44 athletes enrolled in the program (21 girls, 23 boys)
- 12 athletes who play or played on a professional tour
- 22 athletes who earned a degree from an American university
- 6 athletes who competed on the NCAA college tennis circuit
- 5 Grand Slam singles titles (junior and professional) won by an NTC alumnus
- 9 Grand Slam finals (junior and professional) featuring an NTC alumnus
- 1,000 training hours per year
- Over 600 hours of study
Class of 2021–2022
The class of 2021–2022 is made up of athletes who have been training at the NTC for at least a year and throughout the pandemic: Victoria Mboko, Kayla Cross, Mia Kupres, Annabelle Xu, Jaden Weekes and Christophe Clément. Get to know more about them in this video presentation.
“Over the past two years, the pandemic has been especially challenging for the young players because there was only a limited number of tournaments they could compete in, but the National Tennis Centre provided them with a safe training environment in which they could access all the tools they needed to ensure their development continued,” explained Guillaume Marx, Head of Performance at Tennis Canada.
Since last summer, Guillaume Marx has led the National Tennis Centre presented by Rogers, as well as the regional training centres established in Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver, which bring together the best under -15 players in each region. Sylvain Bruneau continues to oversee the NTC’s transition program for girls, working in close collaboration with Simon Larose, and Marx runs the boys’ program with the support of Martin Laurendeau. Nicolas Perrotte and Virginie Tremblay are the Centre’s fitness coaches, and André Barette is the academic advisor.
National junior training programs and Tennis Development Centres
Tennis Canada is also focused on supporting the national junior training programs for young players aged under 15 years old. The training programs are well established in Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver, supporting over 50 athletes.The goal is to work hand-in-hand with club leaders, private sector coaches, provincial associations and personal coaches to optimize the work they are already doing by supporting top prospects and coaches achieve their goals. Lastly, Tennis Canada also supports the strong work done in the club structure nationally by helping almost 40 Tennis Development Centres that are committed to developing players in the private sector.
