Ottawa tennis players inspired by Canadian success at Wimbledon

History was made at the all England Club Sunday as Milos Raonic became the first Canadian man to reach a grand slam final.

Raonic may have lost to Britain’s Andy Murray, but he certainly inspired up-and-coming generations of Canadian tennis players.

This includes nine-year-old Jakob Zimonjic from Ottawa’s Tennis and Lawn Bowling Club (OTLBC).

“I want to be a singles player and be ranked number one in the world,” said Zimonjic.

Raonic was not the only Canadian in the spotlight at Wimbledon. 17-year-old Denis Shapovalov from Richmond Hill, ON won the boys’ singles championship.

“That’s very encouraging as well, a 17-year-old, so Milos won’t be the end of the rise of Canadian Tennis we hope,” said William Floch, the president of the board of directors for the OTLBC.

Members say it is this type of international success that is helping to grow the game here in Canada.

“This will really help make Tennis popular and people can say hey, we may be from a small country, but we can compete with the very, very best,” said Robert Yip, a tennis player.

The big event comes just one month before the OTLBC will host a large tennis tournament from August 21^st to the 27^th.

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