With a Billie-Jean-King Cup title in her pocket, young Canadian Marina Stakusic is aiming just as high for her singles career, as she looks to leave her mark on the WTA circuit.
“I hope that in the next few years I will win WTA tournaments and Grand Slam tournaments,” she said on Wednesday. It’s always been my goal since I was a kid. »
Stakusic, who was little known a few weeks ago, put in an exceptional performance during the 12-country competition held in Seville, Spain.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ontario, was selected for three singles matches and posted three important victories, including one against Martina Trevisan, ranked 43rd in the world, in the final.
Her Quebec teammate Leylah Annie Fernandez then won the decisive match to allow the Canadians to lift the trophy against Italy.
“It happened so quickly, but it was the most incredible season for me,” Stakusic said. I’m so happy to be part of history. It was extremely cool and special.
The next objectives of the 265th racket in the world will be to break into the top-100, make the jump from the ITF circuit to the WTA and qualify for the French Open in May.
“It obviously gives me a lot of confidence about the level of my game playing against these highly ranked players,” Stakusic said during a conference call. [Je sais] what I need to improve to reach the highest level. »
Showing the confidence of a veteran on one of the biggest stages in tennis, Stakusic signed a victory in two sets from the start against the Spaniard Rebeka Masarova.
She then defeated another top-100 player – Poland’s Magdalena Frech – before losing to Czech Barbora Krejcikova.
“I felt it was another level of tennis,” Stakusic explained. I’m glad to have had this experience to know where I need to go and where I want to go. »
Stakusic, who has never appeared in the main draw of a WTA tournament, missed the first six months of the season due to a torn knee ligament.
She reached the final round of qualifying at the National Bank Open last summer and won three ITF tournaments.
Surprise match
With Fernandez at the top of the singles list and Gabriela Dabrowski as the mainstay in doubles, many tennis analysts believed that the more experienced Rebecca Marino or Eugenie Bouchard would play the remaining singles matches.
Captain Heidi El Tabakh instead turned to Stakusic, who found out the day before the competition. The young player admitted she was nervous at first, but her confidence and visualization work paid off.
“When I arrived, it felt like I had been through this place 100 times before,” she said.
During her early years in the sport, Stakusic saw a few teammates reach the highest level when they were just teenagers or young adults.
Bouchard was 20 when she reached the Wimbledon final in 2014 and Fernandez was 19 when she reached the final at the 2021 U.S. Open.
Bianca Andreescu, who represented Canada last year before being dogged by injuries this year, was also 19 when she won the 2019 U.S. Open.
Stakusic therefore has big goals, but she knows that the road to excellence can be long.
“My goal is to have a very long career, a career filled with success, and to stay at the top as long as possible,” revealed Stakusic, who turned 19 on Monday. I’m not going to rush things, I’m just going to watch how it goes and see what my results are. »
Stakusic now plans to take a break to tend to a minor abdominal injury before embarking on his preparation for next season in Florida.
It will be a return to normality after two weeks that she described as “a little crazy”.
“It’s not the kind of thing I’m used to and it all happens all at once,” she said. But it was really cool. I’m excited about the future. »