Tennis Canada – Top-ranked 15-year-olds in the world honoured for their tremendous achievements in 2015

Toronto, January 14, 2016 – Tennis Canada announced on Thursday that Bianca Andreescu and Felix Auger-Aliassime have been named the 2015 Tennis Canada Junior Players of the Year. Ending the seasons ranked world No. 4 and No. 16, respectively, Andreescu and Auger-Aliassime are the two highest-ranked 15-year-olds in the world.

“We are so proud of Bianca and Felix and everything they have already achieved at such a young age,” said Kelly Murumets, president and CEO, Tennis Canada. “They both had phenomenal seasons last year and have the talent, drive, and dedication to do the same in 2016. The future is bright with Bianca and Felix leading a group of many promising juniors in Canada right now. They continue to impress and we wish them the absolute best of luck this season.”

In her first tournament of the season, Andreescu captured a Grade 2 title in Bolivia. She made three other finals before winning four matches in her pro-level debut to advance into the $25,000 Gatineau Challenger final in Quebec in July. The following month, she claimed both her maiden national junior championship in Mississauga, Ont. and what was her biggest title to date at the Canadian Open Junior Championships, a Grade 1 event in Repentigny, Que. and the nation’s biggest junior tournament. She then went 9-1 in the Junior Fed Cup finals to lead Canada to a bronze-medal finish.

In November, she made the final of the Grade 1 Yucatan Cup in Mexico before capping her superb season with a trophy at the prestigious Orange Bowl in Florida. A year after taking the U16 crown, she became just the third Canadian in history to win the U18 title. After starting the year at the world No. 332 position, she rocketed up the rankings to begin 2016 as world No. 4.

“This is so incredible, thank you so much Tennis Canada for this recognition,” Andreescu said. “2015 was my best year yet. Winning the Under 18 Orange Bowl, giving me back-to-back championships at this event, and representing my country at Junior Fed Cup in Spain were definitely the highlights of my season. This recognition is the icing on the cake. It is an honour and it makes me want to achieve much more in 2016.”

Auger-Aliassime posted impressive gains through the season as well, rising to world No. 16 from No. 431 at the start of January. He won two consecutive Grade 4 and Grade 3 titles in Mexico to begin his year. Then, in March, he broke through into the mainstream tennis world when he qualified for the ATP Challenger in Drummondville at the age of 14, making him the youngest player to ever make a Challenger and the first player born in the 2000s to have an ATP ranking. A few months later, he would make the quarter-finals of the ATP Challenger in Granby. He is currently No. 742 on the ATP World Tour rankings.

Back on the junior side, he clinched two prestigious Grade 1 titles – his first at College Park, Maryland in the summer and later in the year at the Eddie Herr Championships in Florida. He also finished as runner-up three times through the year, including at the Canadian Open Junior Championships. Auger-Aliassime was Canada’s No. 1 player at Junior Davis Cup, leading the team to the nation’s first-ever title at the event. He will be heading into his first tournament of 2016 as world No. 8.  

“I would like to thank my family and Tennis Canada, especially the coaches at the National Training Centre for their support and the work they accomplished with me in 2015,” Auger-Aliassime said. “It’s an honour to receive this award and it shows me that I am on the right track. However, I am aware that there is still a lot work ahead of me in order to achieve my goals and this is just the beginning of a great adventure.”
 
Andreescu and Auger-Aliassime will be starting their 2016 seasons this weekend in Australia with the ITF Grade 1 tournament in Traralgon before heading to Melbourne for the Junior Australian Open.

The Tennis Canada Excellence Awards are selected by a committee comprised of high-ranking Tennis Canada personnel and the country’s top national coaches. Eugenie Bouchard and Milos Raonic were previously announced as the Birks Players of the Year.
 

TENNIS CANADA JUNIOR PLAYERS OF THE YEAR

 

Year	Outstanding Junior Male	Outstanding Junior Female
1995	Jocelyn Robichaud	Cristina Popescu
1996	Jocelyn Robichaud	Cristina Popescu
1997	Stephan Timu	Marie-Eve Pelletier
1998	No record of award	No record of award
1999	No record of award	No record of award
2000	Frank Dancevic	Marie-Eve Pelletier
2001	Frank Dancevic	Melanie Marois
2002	Frank Dancevic	Aleksandra Wozniak
2003	Dejan Cvetkovic	Stephanie Dubois
2004	Peter Polansky	Aleksandra Wozniak
2005	Philip Bester	Aleksandra Wozniak
2006	Peter Polansky	Sharon Fichman
2007	Vasek Pospisil	Rebecca Marino
2008	Edward Nguyen	Eugenie Bouchard
2009	Zachary White	Gabriela Dabrowski
2010	Filip Peliwo	Eugenie Bouchard
2011	Filip Peliwo	Eugenie Bouchard
2012	Filip Peliwo	Eugenie Bouchard
2013	Brayden Schnur	Carol Zhao
2014	Denis Shapovalov	Francoise Abanda
2015	Felix Auger-Aliassime	Bianca Andreescu

 

About Tennis Canada
Founded in 1890, Tennis Canada is a non-profit, national sport association with a mission to lead the growth of tennis in Canada and a vision to become a world-leading tennis nation. We value teamwork, passion, integrity, innovation and excellence. Tennis Canada owns and operates the premier Rogers Cup presented by National Bank WTA and ATP World Tour events, eight professional ITF-sanctioned events and financially supports 15 other professional tournaments in Canada. Tennis Canada operates national junior training centres/programs in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Tennis Canada is a proud member of the International Tennis Federation, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Paralympic Committee and the International Wheelchair Tennis Association, and serves to administer, sponsor and select the teams for Davis Cup, Fed Cup, the Olympic and Paralympic Games and all wheelchair, junior and senior national teams. Tennis Canada invests its surplus into tennis development. For more information on Tennis Canada, please visit our website at www.tenniscanada.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Media Contacts (Toronto):
Sarah Grossman, National Manager, Communications and Media Relations, Professional Tennis    
                sgrossman@tenniscanada.com, 416-650-7922
Nicole Watts, Manager, Communications
                nwatts@tenniscanada.com, 416-665-9777 x4092
 
Media Contacts (Montreal):
Valerie Tetreault, Regional Manager, Communications and Media Relations      
                vtetreault@tenniscanada.com, 514-273-1515 x259