Eugenie Bouchard and Milos Raonic are putting Canada in the spotlight. “Genie” as she’s known, from Westmount, Quebec, and Milos, from Thornhill, Ontario, both held their own on the grass courts of Wimbledon yesterday.
And while all eyes may be on the World Cup these days, for tennis devotees there’s another competition to watch. It’s estimated over 400 million people, from 120 countries will be tuning into the matches at Wimbledon.
In Canada, tennis has the largest and longest-operating sports association, one that began in 1890.
A very safe and wonderful sport
According to Hatem McDadi, senior vice-president of tennis development at Tennis Canada, the sport continues to grow in popularity. Between 2008 and 2012 people playing the game at least once a year grew from 4 million to 5 million. Tennis Canada will conduct another study this year to see how the sport is fairing now.
McDadi says there is a ‘Genie and Milos effect’. He says tennis is a booming. More children are being introduced to the sport, and more families “see tennis as a very safe and wonderful sport, and see the benefits of playing tennis for life, and also see the role models with Milos and Genie”.
The Roger’s Cup, where Montreal will host the women this year, and Toronto the men, is quickly selling tickets for the tournament in August.
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