2024 National Bank Open Toronto Players: Meet…

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Four Canadians are guaranteed to appear in the main draw at their home 1000 event which gets underway in just over a week’s time. But the draw in Toronto is expected to be stacked.

Previously, we introduced the Top 10 players on the WTA Tour for the National Bank Open. This week, it’s time to meet the local favourites, along with a few others who are worth keeping an eye on at Sobeys Stadium.

Leylah Annie Fernandez

Age: 21
Current Ranking: 23
Career-High: 13
NBO Appearance: 5th
Best NBO Result: R3 (2023)
Most Recent NBO Result: R3
2024 Record: 18-5
Career NBO Record: 3-4

Leylah Annie Fernandez will carry the weight of being the Canadian No. 1 into the National Bank Open again this year. She has had a solid season in 2024 so far, including a final in Eastbourne last month and a quarter-final at a hard-court 1000 event in Doha.

Each year since 2021, Fernandez has gone one step further at her home 1000 event. If that trend continues, she should theoretically have her sights set on at least the quarter-finals this year.

In her spare time, Fernandez is currently learning to dance salsa with her sister, UCLA player Bianca Jolie Fernandez.

Bianca Andreescu

Age: 24
Current Ranking: 172 (protected ranking: 64)
Career-High: 4
NBO Appearance: 6th
Best NBO Result: Champion (2019)
Most Recent NBO Result: R1
2024 Record: 8-4
Career NBO Record: 9-4

Bianca Andreescu’s love for playing at her home event is well known. She has reached at least the last sixteen in each of her last two appearances in Toronto, most famously winning the title in 2019.

After almost a year away from the tour, Andreescu has looked strong in practically every tournament she has played since returning at Roland-Garros, including a finals run in s-Hertogenbosch.

Andreescu is friends with fellow Olympian Penny Oleksiak. Prior to the 2020 Olympics, the two youngsters said they wanted to be roommates in Tokyo, although Andreescu ultimately ended up skipping the Games.

Rebecca Marino

Age: 33
Current Ranking: 141
Career-High: 138
NBO Appearance: 5th
Best NBO Result: R3 (2021)
Most Recent NBO Result: R1
2024 Record: 29-13
Career NBO Record: 2-4

The veteran Canadian has quietly had one of her best seasons as a professional, winning the two biggest titles of her career, both at the W100 level on the ITF Tour in Guanajuato, Mexico on hard court and in Ilkley, United Kingdom last month on grass.

Marino will be making her fourth appearance in the main draw in Canada. She will be looking for a first match win in Toronto though, with her best result at her home 1000 event coming in Montreal.

During her hiatus from tennis in the mid-2010s, Marino took up rowing, a sport where her uncle won an Olympic gold medal in 1964, for the University of British Columbia.

Marina Stakusic

Age: 19
Current Ranking: 152
Career-High: 152
NBO Appearance: Main Draw Debut
Best NBO Result: Qualifying R2 (2023)
Most Recent NBO Result: Qualifying R2
2024 Record: 18-12

Anticipation will be high for Marina Stakusic’s main draw debut at her home 1000 event after her dramatic breakthrough last fall at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals where her three singles wins, all over Top 70 players while she herself was outside the Top 250, helped Canada to the title.

Stakusic arrives home in form fresh off of qualifying for her first Grand Slam main draw at Wimbledon. Her first-round match in Toronto will be her first WTA 1000 main draw match.

As a kid attending the National Bank Open in Toronto, she caught two racquets that Novak Djokovic tossed to her in the crowd.

Naomi Osaka

Age: 26
Current Ranking: 102
Career-High: 1
NBO Appearance: 5th
Best NBO Result: QF (2019)
Most Recent NBO Result: R1 (2022)
2024 Record: 16-13
Career NBO Record: 4-4

The four-time major champion will play in Canada for the first time in two years as she works her way back from maternity leave. Osaka has consistently picked up match wins at almost every tournament she has played since the birth of her daughter but has yet to get past the quarter-finals of an event.

Despite her dominance on hard courts, Canada has not been the best event for Osaka in her career. However, her best results at the Canadian event, including her lone quarter-final, have always come in Toronto.

A big fan of gaming, Osaka appeared as a character in the video game Fortnite in 2022.

Barbora Krejcikova

Age: 28
Current Ranking: 10
Career-High: 2
NBO Appearance: 3rd
Best NBO Result: R1 (Twice)
Most Recent NBO Result: R1 (2022)
2024 Record: 14-9
Career NBO Record: 0-2

Krejcikova narrowly missed out on appearing in the Top 10 on the National Bank Open’s initial entry list, which came out of couple of days before the Czech won Wimbledon.

The former Roland-Garros champion had been sliding down the rankings before coming out of nowhere to claim her second major title a couple of weeks ago. Her best results in 2024 have come at majors, having also reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.

Off court, the Wimbledon champion loves to build Lego sets.

Elina Svitolina

Age: 29
Current Ranking: 31
Career-High: 3
NBO Appearance: 8th
Best NBO Result: Champion (2017)
Most Recent NBO Result: R1
2024 Record: 22-13
Career NBO Record: 12-6

Svitolina will be one of three former champions in Toronto. Her title came back in 2017 when she tore apart what looked like a difficult draw, beating Roberta Vinci, Daria Kasatkina, Venus Williams, Garbine Muguruza, Simona Halep, and Caroline Wozniacki with the loss of just one set. In the last two rounds, she lost a total of six games.

Since her comeback from maternity leave, the Ukrainian has played her best in big matches. She has reached at least the fourth round at all three majors so far in 2024 and has one final to her name in Auckland.

From when she started playing as a child until 2018, Svitolina brought a stuffed dog named Bobik to every tournament she played.

Danielle Collins

Age: 30
Current Ranking: 9
Career-High: 7
NBO Appearance: 4th
Best NBO Result: QF (2023)
Most Recent NBO Result: QF
2024 Record: 39-12
Career NBO Record: 5-3

Danielle Collins has been on a farewell tour for the ages in 2024. Having announced at the beginning of the year that she would retire at the end of the season, she went on a 15-match winning streak in the spring, which included the biggest title of her career at the Miami Open.

Read also: Meet the WTA Top 10

A year ago, the American had her best run in Canada, reaching the last eight. This will only be her second appearance in Toronto and first since 2019.

Collins has a Bachelor's Degree in media studies, a certificate in sports management and in 2020 began to work on a Master's Degree.

Beatriz Haddad Maia

Age: 28
Current Ranking: 22
Career-High: 10
NBO Appearance: 3rd
Best NBO Result: Runner-up (2022)
Most Recent NBO Result: R2
2024 Record: 18-18
Career NBO Record: 6-2

The last time the WTA passed through Toronto, Beatriz Haddad Maia was the surprise star, reaching the final in her Canadian debut. That run included an upset of world No. 1 Iga Swiatek and a win over former champion Belinda Bencic.

Her 2022 Toronto performance remains the pinnacle of the powerful Brazilian’s career, but her big serve and powerful lefty forehand make her a threat on all surfaces, highlighted by her two grass titles and 2023 Roland-Garros semifinal.

In her spare time, Haddad Maia loves to paint.

Liudmila Samsonova

Age: 25
Current Ranking: 13
Career-High: 12
NBO Appearance: 3rd
Best NBO Result: Runner-up (2023)
Most Recent NBO Result: Runner-up
2024 Record: 18-16
Career NBO Record: 6-2

Liudmila Samsonova is the reigning runner-up at the National Bank Open but will be making her Toronto debut, having missed the event in 2022.

Last year in Montreal, she went on a giant-killer run, taking down Qinwen Zheng, Aryna Sabalenka, Belinda Bencic, and Elena Rybakina before finally running out of gas when she had to play the final against Jessica Pegula mere hours after her semifinal win.

After a slow start to the year, Samsonova has been picking up her form of late, reaching the semifinals in Strasbourg and winning a title at the Libema Open.

As a child, Samsonova’s father urged her to pick either table tennis or lawn tennis.

The WTA's best return to Toronto this summer for the National Bank Open August 4 to 12 at Sobeys Stadium. Tickets are on sale. Get your tickets today!

Feature Photo: Pascal Ratthe