The 2017 Rogers Cup, which will be held in Montreal next week, released information regarding the final Wild Cards for the men's singles draw on Tuesday. Previously, it was known that Vasek Pospisil and Denis Shapovalov would be in the main draw as Canadian wild cards. On Tuesday, both Peter Polansky and Brayden Schnur were awarded wild cards. All four of the wild cards in the men's singles event are Canadian with Shapovalov the bright spot in terms of youth. He enters the tournament ranked 134th and just 18 years old.
Raonic remains cornerstone of Tennis Canada
The brightest light in Canadian tennis remains Milos Raonic. At the age of 26, he could still have several years in front of him of competitive tennis, especially in this era of tennis history where it seems that players are lasting much longer than they used to. Raonic, as a top player, has no need for wild-card entry and he is expected to be seeded 9th when the main draw comes out this weekend.
But Canadian tennis appears to be turning the page on both Frank Dancevic and even Filip Peliwo at this point. With Dancevic that certainly appears to be age related as he is 32 years old and well off the radar with a ranking of 357th in the world as of the current rankings.
He was, however, a mainstay in the Canadian Masters draw for years. Since 2002, the only tournament he missed in Toronto or Montreal was the 2011 tournament.
Peliwo fourth fiddle for Canadian future stars?
Peliwo, after a distinguished juniors career that saw him win both Wimbledon 2012 and the 2012 US Open, doesn't seem to be Tennis Canada's focal point either.
That is a fact that would have been considered very surprising a handful of years ago. Back in 2012, he looked like a player that might actually be in the top 50 by now. However, things have not gone that way for Peliwo. 2017 represents the 2nd year in a row that he is not being given a wild card into the main draw of the Rogers Cup.
Peliwo, to his credit, has actually cleaned up this season on the futures circuit, but he is still just ranked 267th in the world. That Canadian tennis can ignore a 23-year old player who is in the top 300 for a wild card at the Rogers Cup shows that there is some depth to the country's tennis program at the moment.
18-year-old Shapovalov and 22-year-old Schnur are the focus for Canadian tennis' future stars at the moment. Schnur did beat Peliwo in Winnipeg in July. But when it comes to players with the most potential, it's Felix Auger-Aliassime that will likely take Canadian tennis by storm. He previously had a wild card, at the age of 16, into the main draw of the 2017 Rogers Cup. Unfortunately, he was forced to withdraw from the tournament with a wrist injury.
However, 16-year olds in the top 250 are absolute gems and Auger-Aliassime will likely get whatever he needs from Tennis Canada in the future to set himself up for success. Peliwo, despite his amazing juniors career, is now the fourth-brightest light among the young guns in Canadian tennis.
