B.C.’S Peliwo is world junior tennis champ
Being named junior tennis player of the year was a big moment for Filip Peliwo, even if the Vancouver native knew it was coming for three months.
The 18-year-old who reached the junior boys final of all four grand slam tournaments this year, winning at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, got the confirmation Tuesday when the International Tennis Federation announced its champions for 2012.
Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were named world champions while Peliwo and American Taylor Townsend took the junior titles. Djokovic won the men’s award for the second straight year, while Williams took the honour for the third time in her career.
Peliwo, the first player to reach all four grand slam finals in 28 years, is the first Canadian to hold two grand slam singles titles.
“I expected it to happen after I finished the U.S. Open” in September, Peliwo said at the national team training centre. “It feels great just to be finally recognized officially as the world No. 1 junior.”
He lost the Australian Open final to Luke Saville and the French Open final to Kimmer Coppejans, then beat Saville to take Wimbledon and Liam Broady to win the U.S. title.
He said consistency was the biggest factor in his final year of junior tennis.
“I managed to be able to bring my game up in the big tournaments and the grand slams, even when I wasn’t playing my best,” Peliwo said. “I found ways to win matches I was down in.
“Everything came together, whether it was my game, my mental strength, my consistency, the physical part. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep that going.”
His victory at Wimbledon came a day after Genie Bouchard of Westmount made history as the first Canadian grand slam singles winner when she took the j unior girls title. Bouchard also took the junior doubles crown.
They were part of an unprecedented surge in Canadian tennis that saw powerhitting Milos Raonic rise to 13th in world rankings and the Davis Cup team maintain its place in the prestigious World Group for 2013.
Veteran Daniel Nestor of Toronto, the only other Canadian ITF world champion, has won eight grand slam doubles titles.
Peliwo will be at the soldout Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver when Canada faces Spain in Davis Cup first-round action Feb. 1-3, but only as a practice partner for Raonic, Nestor, 125th-ranked Vasek Pospisil and the rest of the squad.
“I’ll hit with the guys, take in the experience,” he said. “If it happens, I’m hoping maybe to play a dead rubber (a meaningless game when a best-of-five series is already decided). You never know. I’m not expecting it, but it would be a great experience.”