First Canadian male to win internationally renown tennis event

Edward Nguyen of Ottawa captured the singles trophy at the 26^th edition of Les Petits As in Tarbes, France on Sunday, earning himself one of the most prestigious international titles for under-14 players. He becomes the first Canadian male to win the event.

Les Petit As is considered one of the best under-14 international events and provides a fantastic developmental experience for young tennis players. The tournament boasts an impressive list of past champions including current world No. 2 Rafael Nadal (Spain) and No. 7 Richard Gasquet (France), and former world No. 1’s Martina Hingis (Switzerland), Kim Clijsters (Belgium), and Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain).

“We are very proud of Edward’s accomplishments at Les Petits As this week,” said Louis Borfiga, vice-president, high performance athlete development.” His win at such a prestigious event is a testament to his hard work and the progress of our national training centres. Edward’s victory marks a great day for tennis in Canada and shows the benefit of our system and NTC program.”

As the tournament No. 3 seed, Nguyen defeated No. 5 Liam Broady of Great Britain 6-4, 7-5 in the final to put an exclamation mark on a remarkable week of tennis. After cruising through his first two matches against unseeded players, Nguyen faced stiffer competition throughout the rest of the tournament but somehow found a way to win each time he stepped onto the court. In the third round and quarter-finals he needed a pair of third-set comebacks to defeat No. 14 Miki Jankovic (Serbia) and No. 10 Maxim Lunkin (Russia), respectively, and in the semis he overcame his nerves to dominate with a straight-sets triumph over No. 8 Kevin Kaczynski (Germany).

In addition to taking home the Petit As title, Nguyen will also receive the Tennis Canada International Junior Champion Award which consists of a $5,000 cash prize to be used for tennis expenses such as training, coaching and travel. The award was created by Murray and Roda Rubin of Toronto, who wish to inspire and reward excellence in Canadian junior tennis by acknowledging those players who win a major international event such as a junior Grand Slam or Les Petits As. Nguyen joins Sharon Fichman and Gabriela Dabrowski as a winner of the Tennis Canada Junior International Champion Award.

Nguyen, who won’t turn 14 until May, is one of the first participants of Canada’s new full-time National Training Centre, which opened its doors in September to bring together some of the country’s best young tennis talent and provide them with the coaching, training, and resources necessary to succeed.

In just a few months, the NTC has proven it has the ability to nurture future Canadian tennis greats and Nguyen is a testament to the benefit of the program. His triumph capped off a stellar couple of weeks in Europe where he had the opportunity to compete against some of the best under-14 players from around the world.

At the Teen Tennis event in Bolton, England, held the week before Les Petits As, Nguyen surprised everyone with his appearance in the final. Despite his valiant effort in the championship round, he ultimately fell in a heartbreaking third set tiebreak to the tournament’s top seed, Evgeni Karlovski of Russia. However, his run through the draw as an unseeded player was spectacular as he posted consecutive straight-sets victories over four top 10 seeds en route to the final.

In 2006, Gabriela Dabrowski became the first Canadian female to win the same international event.