Rebecca Marino Named 2011 Tennis Canada Most Outstanding Female Player

Tennis Canada announced Wednesday that Rebecca Marino (Vancouver) has been named 2011 Most Outstanding Female Player. The 20-year-old’s impressive season featured many career milestones, including reaching her first WTA final, advancing to the third round at the French Open, and hitting a high of No. 38 on the WTA rankings in July. 

“Rebecca made tremendous strides this year in her first full season on the WTA Tour,” said Hatem McDadi, vice-president, tennis development, Tennis Canada. “She is a fantastic player who has immense potential to reach the top of the sport. She is also an extremely passionate and devoted Canadian who is dedicated to representing her country on the international stage and we are fortunate and proud to have her act as a role model and ambassador for Canadian tennis internationally.” 

In addition, Marino also received the Female Singles Player of the Year and Most Improved Female Player awards, completing the trifecta of high-performance Excellence Awards for the second consecutive year. After finishing the 2010 season ranked No. 101, she improved by 63 spots to attain her career-high of No. 38, before ending the year at No. 64. 

“I’m so excited to be recognized by Tennis Canada for a second straight year,” said Marino. “It was a really big year for me with a lot of firsts and a huge learning curve. I’m currently working really hard on my off-season training and am really looking forward to starting the 2012 season and hopefully building on my success from this past year.” 

Marino earned a direct berth into a major for the first time at the Australian Open, where she advanced to the second round and nearly defeated world No. 7 Francesca Schiavone in a 6-3, 5-7, 9-7 battle. Mere weeks after the first major of the season, she reached her first WTA final at the tournament in Memphis, also the first event in which she was seeded.  She made it into the third round of the French Open, eliminating talented clay-courter Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in round two, and the second round of Wimbledon. Marino was also a quarter-finalist at the Bell Challenge in Quebec City and netted her second career Top 15 victory in October, 
eliminating No. 15 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova from the tournament in Luxembourg in her last event of the season. 

She also made her Fed Cup debut this year, playing in both of Canada’s 2011 ties. Marino captured her first Fed Cup victory in the opening rubber against Serbia in February against Aleksandra Krunic and compiled a 2-3 record in singles and doubles combined. 

Sharon Fichman (Toronto) is the recipient of the fourth high-performance female award, winning the Female Doubles Player of the Year. She enjoyed another successful season on the doubles circuit, reaching the final of the WTA event in Bogota with Spain’s Laura Pous-Tio and the quarter-finals of the WTA tournament in Stanford with fellow Canadian Marie-Eve Pelletier. She also captured four ITF doubles titles and was a finalist at two other events. She is currently the highest-ranked Canadian on the WTA doubles rankings at No. 100. 

The Tennis Canada Excellence Awards are selected by a committee comprised of high-ranking Tennis Canada personnel and the country’s top national coaches. 

The Tennis Canada Excellence Awards for male high performance athletes will be announced on Thursday, December 8. 

TENNIS CANADA EXCELLENCE AWARD PLAYER OF THE YEAR HONOURS

Year   Male Player of the Year     Female Player of the Year
1982 Rejean Genois (Laval, QC) Marjorie Blackwood (Whistler, BC) 
1983 Glenn Michibata (Toronto, ON) Carling Bassett (Toronto, ON) 
1984 Martin Wostenholme (Toronto, ON) Carling Bassett (Toronto, ON) 
1985 Glenn Michibata (Toronto, ON) Carling Bassett (Toronto, ON) 
1986 Andrew Sznajder (Toronto, ON) Helen Kelesi (Toronto, ON) 
1987 Grant Connell (Vancouver, BC) Helen Kelesi (Toronto, ON) 
1988 Andrew Sznajder (Toronto, ON) Jill Hetherington (Brampton, ON) 
1989 Andrew Sznajder (Toronto, ON) Helen Kelesi (Toronto, ON) 
1990 Grant Connell (Vancouver, BC) Helen Kelesi (Toronto, ON) 
1991 Grant Connell (Vancouver, BC) Patricia Hy (Montreal, QC) 
1992 Grant Connell (Vancouver, BC) Patricia Hy (Montreal, QC) 
1993 Greg Rusedski (Montreal, QC) Patricia Hy (Montreal, QC) 
1994 Sebastien Lareau (Montreal, QC) Jana Nejedly (Vancouver, BC) 
1995 Grant Connell (Vancouver, BC) Patricia Hy-Boulais (Montreal, QC) 
1996 Sebastien Lareau (Montreal, QC) Patricia Hy-Boulais (Montreal, QC) 
1997 Daniel Nestor (Toronto, ON) Patricia Hy- Boulais (Montreal, QC) 
1998 No record of award 
1999 No record of award 
2000 Daniel Nestor & Sebastien Lareau Sonya Jeyaseelan (New Westminster, BC) 
2001 Daniel Nestor (Toronto) Jana Nejedly (Vancouver, BC) 
2002 Frederic Niemeyer (Sherbrooke, QC) Maureen Drake (Toronto, ON) 
2003 Daniel Nestor (Toronto, ON) Maureen Drake (Toronto, ON) 
2004 Daniel Nestor (Toronto, ON) Aleksandra Wozniak (Blainville, QC) 
2005 Daniel Nestor (Toronto, ON) Stephanie Dubois (Laval, QC) 
2006 Frank Dancevic (Niagara Falls, ON) Aleksandra Wozniak (Blainville, QC) 
2007 Daniel Nestor (Toronto, ON) Stephanie Dubois (Laval, QC) 
2008 Daniel Nestor (Toronto, ON) Aleksandra Wozniak (Blainville, QC) 
2009 Daniel Nestor (Toronto, ON) Aleksandra Wozniak (Blainville, QC) 
2010 
2011 Daniel Nestor (Toronto, ON) 
TBA  Rebecca Marino (Vancouver, BC) 
        Rebecca Marino (Vancouver, BC)