Tim Kemp Memorial 2025
In the cover feature photo : Emma Shea, Nadia Lagaev, Jelena Vico, Giovanni Rodriguez.
The 2025 Tim Kemp Memorial Tournament, hosted by The Club at White Oaks in Niagara-on-the- Lake, was another smash hit. Played in the very popular December 27-31 time slot, the event attracts young players on break from universities and junior up-and-comers. It provides very desirable competitive matches (and $6600 in prize money), along with reunion opportunities among players, coaches and spectators.
Nadia Lagaev was the headliner of the women’s singles draw, giving us a close-up look at the future of Canadian tennis. The 17-year-old from Vaughan is #28 in the International Tennis Federation worldwide junior rankings and carries a WTN rating of 14.9. She was a study in focus and consistency, as well as fitness and determination. Nadia lost only 5 games through the first four rounds of the tournament, before winning the championship match 6-4 6-2.
Her opponent in the final was Jelena Vico, a 19-year-old graduate of Richview Collegiate in Toronto. Jelena did a freshman year at Penn State and is now in a sophomore year of computer engineering at FIU in Florida. She plays a baseline game with consistency and determination, exemplified by a quarter-final win over Madeline Kroupetski 7-6 4-6 7-6.
It was great to see a handful of young women players from SouthWest Region in the draw : Alessia Lungu, Fiona Barkovic, Jasmine Li, Julia Clarke-Louie and Lily Rochon.
The men’s singles draw featured 76 players, with the #5 and #6 seeds coming through the strong field to meet in the final match.
Andrei Caragea was the last man standing on the morning of New Year’s Eve. The 18-year-old from Kitchener played five strong matches before facing #5 seed Cole Thurgur in the final, winning by a score of 6-3 6-4. Andrei is from Kitchener and developed his tennis at Royal City Tennis Club and Courtside Academy in Guelph. He was recruited to play tennis this year at Ball State University in Muncie Indiana and is relishing the team tennis experience.
Cole Thurgur was something of a giant-killer in the draw, defeating #1 seed Neil Kandhai in 3 sets in the quarter-final, then defeating #3 seed Emiliano Jorquera in 3 sets in the semi-final. The Ottawa native is in his sophomore year on the tennis team at Rider University in New Jersey.
The women’s doubles draw featured 8 teams and lots of spirited, spectator-friendly matches. In the end, the Quebec team of Mariya Dobreva & Alexie Duclair defeated the #1 seeded team of Jelena Vico and Maria Komar 6-3 7-5. Mariya and Alexie had escaped from their first round by a score of 7-5 4-6 11-9.
The men’s doubles included 16 teams and gave us our first SWR presence in the finals. The champion team of Nicola Ion and Emiliano Jorquera defeated local favourites Tanner Bedard and Trevor Masi by a score of 7-6 6-3.
Congratulations to Giovanni Rodriguez and his team at White Oaks, with expert tournament director Emma Shea at the helm for some very long days. It was a lovely tribute to the memory of Tim Kemp and a great way to ring out the old year.
