Noëlle van Lottum
Tevlin : Women in Leadership
When late-October rolls around, it’s “Tevlin Time” for tennis in Ontario. Since 2005, the Tevlin Challenger has been played at the Sobeys Stadium indoor courts and is an important stepping stone for Canada’s rising young women professionals.
With $60,000 (US) in prize money, there’s always a strong field. Played from October 25th to November 2nd, the 2025 winner was Harriet Dart of the UK. Over the first 20 years, there have been four Canadian singles champions : Marina Stakusic (2023), Gabriela Dabrowski (2014), Eugenie Bouchard (2012) and Aleksandra Wozniak (2005).
Mike and Nicole Tevlin are the tennis supporters who make this possible. A Tennis Canada story about them is told HERE.
As a highlight event, the Tevlin Challenger showcases women coaches and officials as well as players, providing an avenue for women to support each other and cultivate leadership capacity. To that end, Tennis Canada hosted a Women in Leadership gathering on October 30th. The forum was a great opportunity to engage with inspiring women and have impactful conversations, foster new connections and support community growth … all while taking in the energy and excitement of the Tevlin Challenger.
Headliner for the day was Noëlle van Lottum, Head of Women’s Tennis. Terri Temelini, Director, Women & Girls Advancement, led a panel of prominent leaders : Melissa Lacroix, Senior Director High Performance; Kasia Radwan-Cho, Director Officiating; and Simon Bartram, Head of the Regional Tennis Centre in Toronto.
Jennifer Bennett, Senior Director, Sport Integrity, briefed us on the latest in sport safety. Cara Kasdorf (Blueprint Nutrition) spoke on health and performance for women and girls. Toni Ormond explained the Girls-Set-Equity initiatives.
Taken together, the takeaways included :
• Your impact is bigger than you think.
• Listen, stay flexible, and surround yourself with supportive people.
• Prioritize building a network with diverse lived experiences.
• Confidence grows outside your comfort zone.
• Know your worth and lift others up.
• Reflect on who you are, what your values are, and use those to guide decision-making.
• Be curious, empathetic, and a pillar of support for those around you.
Tennis Canada has made deliberate strides toward advancing women in leadership, with appreciable gender balance among the staff and other leaders now being considered the norm. Provinces such as Quebec and British Columbia also do well in this department. In Ontario, we have the privilege of the Tevlin being here in our backyard, and the Tennis Canada staff making themselves available to us for these special events. Let’s see if we can take better advantage of that in 2026. A good time to mark it on your calendar would be right now.
Photos by Mark Ritchie
