Wheelchair Tennis Year in Review: Venos Wraps Up Big Year in Style – Tennis Canada

2024 may be coming to an end, but Thomas Venos wrapped up his year on the wheelchair tennis circuit with a bang. 

The ITF tour made one last stop in Canada to close out the year at the Bourassa Savaria International Open at IGA Stadium in Montreal. Two of the three official draws were won by the host nation. 

Venos reached both the men’s singles and doubles finals, winning the doubles title with Charlie Cooper of the United States. The top-seeded pair won two of their three matches, including the final against Canada’s Shawn Courchesne and American Adil Boutahli, 6-0, 6-0. The lone challenge they faced came in the semis, where Venos and Cooper were pushed to a match tiebreak by an Italian-American team, which they won 10-4. 

The doubles title was the 25-year-old’s eighth of the year on the ITF tour. 

In the singles, Venos was the top seed and got to the final winning five of the six sets he played 6-0. There, he ran into his doubles partner Cooper, who was victorious in straight sets. 

Canada’s Anne-Marie Dolinar won the women’s singles event, edging out Britain’s Martha Harris in the deciding match. 

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The women’s event was a five-player round-robin, with Dolinar and Harris each winning their first three matches to set up what was in essence the final in the last match of the event. The Canadian narrowly edged out the win 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3 to claim her first ITF singles title. 

“Today’s match was an absolute marathon,” said Dolinar after the win. “I stayed focused on my game plan and am so happy to have come away with the win. No better way to finish my 2024 season than with my first ITF singles title!” 

With only two pairs signed up for the women’s doubles, the event did not officially count as an ITF draw. Dolinar and fellow Canadian Natalia Lanucha beat Harris and American Ashley Sisti in the one match that was played. 

Breakthroughs for Venos, Berube Perron 

Thomas Venos has been playing and winning on the ITF wheelchair tour for several years, but 2024 was by far his best season yet. 

The 25-year-old won 11 total titles, more than doubling his career total since he won his first in 2017. 

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Eight of those titles came in doubles, including five wins on home soil in Boucherville, Kamloops, Saint-Hyacinthe, Fredericton, and Montreal. All eight of his titles came with different partners. Prior to 2024, Venos had just six total ITF doubles titles. 

He nearly doubled his total of singles titles as well. Venos came into 2024 with four singles wins and added three more this year. He won a pair of titles on home soil in Saint-Hyacinthe and Fredericton, as well as a title at the Credit Mutual Open in France. 

As a result of his success, Venos finishes 2024 at career-high rankings in both singles (No. 47) and doubles (No. 40) 

Canadian tennis fans were introduced in 2024 to the young woman who could be their next big wheelchair star. 18-year-old Frédérique Bérubé Perron burst onto the wheelchair tennis scene this year with impressive results at home and abroad. 

In July, she won her first ITF title, the women’s doubles in Kamloops. A week later at an event in Vancouver, she won both the singles (her first on the ITF tour) and doubles titles.  

Later in the summer, she made history by becoming the first Canadian to qualify for the junior wheelchair draw at a Grand Slam event. Bérubé Perron went on to reach the semifinals of the US Open girls wheelchair singles draw.  

Earlier in the year, the teen made her debut for Team Canada in the qualifying round of the World Team Cup. Neither the Canadian women nor men were able to advance to the world group. Click here to read the qualifying event recap. 

The 18-year-old finishes 2024 at No. 65 in the women’s singles rankings, one spot below the career-high she hit in October, and No. 7 in the junior rankings.  

Both Venos and Bérubé Perron shone at the Birmingham National Championships in October as well. Venos won his third consecutive men’s singles title and sixth straight in men’s doubles. Bérubé Perron was crowned champion at the senior level for the first time, winning the women’s singles as well as claiming the junior title. 

Click here to read the full recap of the Birmingham National Wheelchair Tennis Championships. 

Shaw Continues to Break New Ground 

While the younger Canadians were making their mark in 2024, Canada’s wheelchair stalwart Rob Shaw continued to add to his already impressive resume.  

Shaw won two singles titles in 2024, including the biggest win of his career at the ITF 1 Series Swiss Open in Geneva, and added five doubles trophies. In the doubles, four of his titles were at the ITF 1 series level and the other was his first ITF Super Series title at the Japan Open. In January, he won his first-ever singles match in the main draw of a Grand Slam event at the Australian Open.  

The 35-year-old represented Canada at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris, getting his first Paralympic match win as he reached the quarter-finals. At season’s end, he qualified for the NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters, the ITF wheelchair tour’s year-end championships. He finishes 2024 at No. 7 in the quad rankings, matching his career-best year-end finish. 

For more detailed information on Canadian wheelchair tennis results in 2024, check out the monthly updates (Brackets indicate domestic tournaments covered that month):     

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