By Doug Kennedy
What a week in Canadian sports. It was hard on the remote, flipping between the Blue Jays and the new tennis sensation from Laval, Quebec, Laylah Fernandez, who was playing in the U.S. Open.
With two young women who were both born in Canada, it was something you will probably never witness again. Emma Raducanu was born in Canada and she moved to Great Britain with her parents when she was two-years-old.
Raducanu had to play a qualifier to get to play in the U.S. Open. She was rated 338th, while Fernandez was rated 73rd at the start of the tournament. They both will probably move to the top 25 after the last two weeks in the Open.
Fernandez had the tougher draw, as she defeated two top-10 players and two past top 10-players.
It will be interesting to see if Fernandez can continue to be a top tennis player. Past history in Canada shows you never know. When Eugenie Bouchard got to the Wimbledon final in 2014, Canada was excited to have a top player in the world but she never got close to that level again. Milos Ranis got to the Wimbledon final in 2016 and has won a few tournaments since and has been in the top 10 for a few years. Injuries seem to slow him down at this point. Bianca Andreescu won the Canadian Open and the U.S. Open two years ago but has had some injury problems since then. Let’s hope she can recover.
Canadian Felix-Auger-Aliassme made it to the men’s semi-final at the Open and looks like he has the potential to be a top player for years. Denis Shapovalov is a top men’s player that is doing well and is rated in the top 20 in the world.
Back in the rink
After 18 months (548 days) without going to a PJHL hockey game, it was nice to drive to Alliston last Saturday morning to watch a few games in their mini-tournament. Alliston and Stayner were in the final game on Sunday afternoon with Stayner coming out on top, 2-1. The two teams were in the league final in 2019 when the leagues were shut down.
The Bulldogs home opener is against Mitchell on Friday, Oct. 1 at 8:30 p.m. They play Goderich at home this Wednesday night at 8 p.m. at the Davidson Centre and travel back to Goderich this Saturday to play at 7:30 p.m. Next week, I will have a look at all the teams in the Pollock Division for this year.
A final thought – go Jays go! I’m hopeful we’ll get a spot in the playoffs!