THUNDER BAY – Local tennis enthusiasts got a chance to see one of the sport’s biggest trophies on Wednesday.
The Billie Jean King Cup made a stop at the Thunder Bay Community Tennis Centre as part of a cross-country tour to celebrate Canada’s win at the women’s international team event in Dec. 2023.
“We are really fortunate to have the trophy here,” said Jamie Grieve, who is the director of tennis at the Thunder Bay Community Tennis Centre.
“Tennis Canada thought that this would be a perfect stop to make on their tour between Winnipeg and Toronto and the timing was pretty perfect for us, especially as we’re going to city council next week for our indoor facility.”
The Billie Jean King Cup – which was known as the Federation Cup until it was renamed in honour of the legendary tennis player in 2020 – has been competed for since 1963.
Canada’s squad of Eugenie Bouchard, Marina Stakusic, Gabriela Dabrowski, Laylah Annie Fernandez and Rebecca Marino captured the title on Nov. 12, 2023, with a 2-0 win over Italy in Seville, Spain.
Grieve hopes that win can help inspire more females to get involved with tennis in the years to come.
“One of the big things for tennis is the equality that there is on the women’s stage,” Grieve said. “This is one of the few sports in the world where female athletes get paid the same as male athletes on the world scene.
“It’s a great thing to open up the eyes of the young ladies that come to our club, especially since the coaches in the tennis industry are actually paid, so that can be an avenue they can explore as they get older.”
This is the second major tennis trophy to visit the Thunder Bay Community Tennis Centre in the last year.
The Davis Cup came to the facility last May as part of a tour that honoured Canada’s first-ever win at the men’s international team event in 2022.
“What are the odds that the two biggest team trophies in tennis have come to Thunder Bay in such a short period of time,” Grieve said.
That success – along with Bianca Andreescu’s historic win in the women’s singles event at the U.S. Open in 2019 – has led to more people coming out to try the sport locally.
“Our junior membership is just over 200 for the last year, which is a good healthy number for us,” Grieve said.
“To put that in perspective, Sudbury has an indoor facility with four indoor courts and they are at just over 200 total members. Our junior membership numbers nearly match that and we’re almost close to having 500 members already this season . . . and it’s still very early in the year for us.”
