2024 was a year full of milestones for Canadian tennis players. Youngsters Gabriel Diallo and Marina Stakusic grabbed the spotlight, showing their promise as the potential next major stars for the Great White North.
But it was not just about the kids as even some of Canada’s more experienced players were still able to break new ground.
As the season comes to a close, let’s look back at some of the milestones achieved by Canadians in 2024.
Career Years
Gabriel Diallo
Diallo showed some flashes of his potential during his first year as a professional in 2023, but he made major strides in year two.
The first breakthrough of the year came in May when he qualified for his first Grand Slam main draw, winning three three-setters in a row to qualify for Roland-Garros. He then caught fire in the summer, at one point going on a seven-match winning streak that included his third ATP Challenger Tour title in Chicago.
He hit new heights at the US Open, coming through qualifying once again and this time scoring his first match win in a major main draw over Jaume Munar. He followed that up with his fourth win over a Top 30 opponent, knocking off No. 24 Arthur Fils in round two to reach the third round of a major for the first time, where he lost to No. 14 Tommy Paul in four tight sets. Diallo was the last Canadian standing in singles in New York.
After qualifying for the Masters 1000 event in Shanghai, Diallo had his best run at a tour-level event at the ATP 250 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The Canadian beat back-to-back Top 40 opponents to reach his first final on the ATP Tour. He was narrowly edged out in the title match by world No. 26 Karen Khachanov, ranked nearly 100 spots above Diallo, in a tight three-set final.
As a result of the finals run in Almaty, Diallo jumped into the Top 100 of the ATP rankings for the first time, even briefly overtaking Denis Shapovalov as the No. 2 Canadian in the ATP rankings. He will finish 2024 at No. 86, his career-high ranking.
Marina Stakusic
Stakusic was in the spotlight heading into the 2024 season after finishing 2023 with a bang at the Billie Jean King Cup.
The 19-year-old continued to make strides this year, making her Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon after coming through qualifying to reach the main draw and getting her first WTA 1000 match win on home soil at the National Bank Open in Toronto.
Like 2023, Stakusic saved her best results for the fall. In September, she reached her first tour-level quarter-final at the WTA 500 Guadalajara Open, upsetting top seed and then-world No. 12 Jelena Ostapenko in the second round for the biggest win of her career by ranking. The following month, she came through qualifying at the WTA 125 event in Tampico, Mexico and claimed the biggest title of her career so far.
As a result of the win in Tampico, Stakusic hit a career-high ranking of No. 116 in the world. She is projected to finish just below that mark, but it will still be her best year-end ranking by well over 100 places, having entered 2024 at No. 258 in the world.
Gabriela Dabrowski
2024 was another big year for Canada’s best doubles player.
A year removed from becoming the first Canadian to win a Grand Slam title in women’s doubles, Dabrowski became the first Canadian to both reach the final and win the title at the WTA Finals in any discipline.
July was a strong month for the Ottawan, as she reached another major final at Wimbledon, which springboarded her to a career-high ranking of No. 3 in the world. By winning the title in Riyadh in November, she was able to finish the year at No. 3, her best-ever year-end ranking.
Also in July, Dabrowski became the first Canadian woman to win an Olympic medal in tennis, claiming bronze in the mixed doubles with Félix Auger-Aliassime.
Rebecca Marino
Coming into 2024, Marino had never won a title above the W60 level. By the end of the year, she had lifted four singles trophies, all of which eclipsed that mark.
In February, she won her first ITF W100 title in Guanajuato, Mexico. In July, she added a second in Ilkley, United Kingdom. On home soil in Calgary in October, she picked up a W75 title, which was bigger than anything she had won prior to 2024.
Marino then finished with a bang, scoring her first title at a WTA-sanctioned event in October at the WTA 125 event in Midland, Michigan. It was the biggest singles win of her career to cap off a year full of milestone wins. A month prior, the veteran had also won her second WTA 125 doubles title, matching her career-best result.
The following players currently ranked inside the Top 500 also hit their career-high rankings in 2024.
*Player also projected to have highest year-end ranking
**Player expected to finish 2024 at career-high ranking
- Liam Draxl: ATP doubles No. 142(Nov)**, ATP singles No. 233 (Oct)*
- Ariana Arseneault: WTA doubles No. 149 (Nov)**
- Alexis Galarneau: ATP singles No. 153 (May)
- Bianca Jolie Fernandez: WTA doubles No. 170 (Oct)*
- Cleeve Harper: ATP doubles No. 175 (Nov)**
- Kayla Cross: WTA doubles No. 180 (Nov)**, WTA singles No. 269 (Nov)*
- Mia Kupres: WTA doubles No. 185 (Nov)**
- Kelsey Stevenson: ATP doubles No. 196 (May)
- Benjamin Sigouin: ATP doubles No. 200 (July)*
- Stacey Fung: WTA singles No. 222 (Feb)
- Juan Carlos Aguilar: ATP doubles No. 242 (Jan)
- Carson Branstine: WTA singles No. 252 (Nov)*
- Victoria Mboko: WTA singles No. 284 (Oct)
- Cadence Brace: WTA singles No. 314 (Oct)*
Doubles Delight
The 2024 WTA National Bank Open in Toronto was a big one for the host nation in doubles, even beyond the fact that Dabrowski reached the final.
Five Canadians (six if you count Dabrowski’s partner Erin Routliffe who was raised and trained in Canada but represents New Zealand) participated in the quarter-finals, including two all-Canadian teams. That was the most total Canadians and all-Canadian pairs in the last eight of the National Bank Open since the tournament became a WTA Tier I event, the precursor to the current WTA 1000 level, in 1990.
The Fernandez sisters, Bianca Jolie and Leylah Annie, reached the semifinals, becoming the first all-Canadian team to reach the final four in just over a decade.
Ariana Arseneault and Mia Kupres had their breakthrough, reaching their first tour-level quarter-final at the WTA 1000 event. It was part of a breakthrough year for the tandem who won a pair of ITF titles together on home soil in Granby and Saskatoon and reached their first WTA 125 final in Midland in November.
Both all-Canadian squads were beaten by Dabrowski and Routliffe, who finished as the runners-up.
Read also: Canadian Doubles Steal the Show in Toronto
The Missile Landed (A Lot)
Milos Raonic only played 11 matches in 2024, but he still managed to make his presence felt.
In the first round of the cinch Championships at the Queen’s Club in London, the Canadian delivered a performance for the history books, literally. Raonic showed that his serve is still one of the best in the world, blasting 47 aces past Cameron Norrie in an upset of the former Wimbledon semifinalist.
The 47 aces were the most ever hit in a best-of-three match.
200-Win Club
Canada’s top two men both scored their 200th career win on the ATP Tour in 2024.
Félix Auger-Aliassime did in first, beating Botic van de Zandschulp in the second round of the Italian Open in May to become the second Canadian man after Milos Raonic and the second man born in the 2000s after Jannik Sinner to reach the milestone.
Denis Shapovalov followed suit in October, defeating Lorenzo Sonego in the first round of the Shanghai Masters to become the third Canadian to score 200 wins. The result in Shanghai kicked off a strong fall for Shapovalov, who went on to win his second career title in Belgrade in November.
First 1000 final for FAA
2024 was not a great year for Auger-Aliassime overall, but he still managed to post some career-best results.
At the Madrid Masters in April/May, the Montrealer caught fire. While he did benefit from a draw that fell apart around him, Auger-Aliassime did not let his opportunity slip away, reaching the first Masters 1000 final of his career. The run included a win over world No. 6 and two-time Roland-Garros runner-up Casper Ruud in the fourth round.
By reaching the Madrid final, Auger-Aliassime became the third Canadian man to reach a Masters 1000 singles final along with Denis Shapovalov (Paris 2019) and Raonic (four times) and the first to do so on clay.
Auger-Aliassime came close to becoming the first Canadian to win a Masters 1000 singles title, taking the first set of the final with Andrey Rublev and being two games away from victory in both the second and third sets. In the end, he was narrowly edged 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.
In the previous five Masters 1000 singles finals, the Canadian men had only combined to win one set (Raonic in the 2020 “Cincinnati” final). The Madrid result was the first of several strong showings for Auger-Aliassime on clay in 2024, including a round of 16 appearance at Roland-Garros, a fourth-place finish in singles and his bronze medal win with Dabrowski at the Paris Olympics.