Canadians advance at Wimbledon

(Update)

There’s no denying it — Canadian tennis is on the rise. And Wednesday, more history was made at Wimbledon as Eugenie Bouchard and Milos Raonic both reached the semi-finals in their respective draws. It’s an incredible achievement in a country better known for producing hockey players.

We spoke with several tennis pros, up and coming players and the V.P. of Tennis Developemnent at Tennis Canada and they all think tennis has a chance to one day surpass hockey as the most played sport here in Canada, thanks to these two gifted players.

It’s been a familiar sight all year long. Canadian Eugenie Bouchard is heading to her third straight grand slam semi-final after defeating German Angelique Kerber in straight sets.

Hatem McDadi is the Senior Vice-President of Tennis Canada: “It’s centre court, it’s Wimbledon, she’s been dreaming about Wimbledon her entire life.”

With that win, ‘genie is expected to be ranked at least eighth in the world. Only one other Canadian woman has ever ranked that high.

But ‘genie is taking this one step at a time: “Definitely ready for a tough match tomorrow. Excited to be in the semis again and to go one step further.”

Hatem said: “She loves being on the big stage, she’s focused, she goes for it, she’s courageous.”

What’s not a familiar sight is a canadian man making it to a grand slam semi-final. But this afternoon, Thornhill’s Milos Raonic changed all of that being the first Canadian man to reach that point in the open era after beting Nick Kyrios in 4 sets

Hatem says: “He’s now legitimately one of he best top eight players. He’s making the jump to top four and number one.”

With the recent success with genie and milos, is canada ready to make the jump to take on the rest of the tennis world.

Hatem: “We’re an emerging nation. To be a leading nation, we need a few more steps. But it’s been a long time coming. It’s really a golden age for tennis, Canadaian tennis right now.”

These young players at the Cedar Springs Racquet Club in Burlington couldn’t agree more.

“It gives me hope to see Canadians doing really well, makes me feel like I can do as well as her too.”

“People are going to realize Canada can produce a lot of great players.”

Raheel Manji is Under-16 National Champion: “I already have my ATP point, and I want to continue that afterwards and hopefully get to play in a grand slam one day.”

You’re going to want to keep a close eye on Mr. Manji, he won the under-16 national championships, is off to the University of Indiana on a full scholarship and has big dreams as you can see. He’s one of many who are going to carry this game to the next level.