National Bank Junior International Canadian tennis open

The National Bank International Canadian Junior Open, an ITF Category 1 Event, takes place August 27 to September 4 at Repentigny’s Parc Larochelle and celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.

Martina Hingis, Ana Ivanovic, Maria Kirilenko, Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, Amélie Mauresmo, Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, David Nalbandian, Lleyton Hewitt, Jim Courier and Michael Chang are just a few of the superstars who have passed through Repentigny over the years.

This year, Canada’s own Gabriela Dabrowski, 2009 champion of the prestigious Orange Bowl, will be the No.2 seed. Czech twins Kristyna and Karolina Pliskova, ranked 7th and 15th in the world respectively, will be ones to watch, as will Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay (11th in the world), Romanian Cristina Dinu (19th in the world) and especially well-known Brit Laura Robson, 48th in the world and 220th on the WTA Tour rankings. Canadians Eugénie Bouchard, Juliana Gajic, Élisabeth Abanda and Carol Zhao will also attempt to show off their stuff in this high quality tournament showcasing the most talented juniors in the world.

Amongst the players to follow on the boys side include European junior champion Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina (3rd in the world); Austrian Dominic Thiem (12th in the world), who already holds a win over a top-200 player on the ATP; European Under-16 Champion Mathias Bourgue of France; and Canadians Nikolai Haessig, Pavel Krainik and Filip Peliwo.
Canada has six wildcards in the main draw, both for the boys and for the girls. The boys selected are Samuel Monette, Roman Trkulja, Hugo DiFeo, Victor Hoang, Damien David and Jean-Michel Blouin. The girls who will benefit from wild cards are Françoise Abanda, Evie Repic, Erin Routliffe, Solomiya Zinko, Gloria Liang and Nada Marjanovic.