If not for an ankle sprain, tennis player Sharon Fichman of Toronto might have won both the singles and doubles titles at the $50,000 Tevlin Challenger event held recently at the Rexall Centre’s indoor tennis facility at York University.
Sharon Fichman
Teaming with American Mashona Washington and leading 3-2 in the doubles final match, Fichman fell trying to retrieve a ball and sprained her ankle. She tried to recover in the next point, but stumbled and was forced to default the final to Canadians Maureen Drake and Marianne Jodoin. Because of the ankle injury, Fichman also defaulted her semifinal singles match to Anito Kapros of Hungary the next day.
“It is tough to lose this way, but I am glad I tried to win before my family and friends watching me here,” said a disappointed Fichman after the doubles final. “But I will be back again in the future.”
Judging by her current results, the future looks bright for Fichman as a professional tennis player.
Before her injury, she didn’t drop a set in either singles or doubles at the Tevlin Challenger. She defeated Russian Olga Puchlova 7-6(1), 6-1; American Julia Boserup 6-2, 7-5 and fellow Canadian Marie-Eve Pelletier 6-3, 6-2 before defaulting in the semifinals. With Washington, Fichman won three doubles matches before defaulting the championship match.
Fichman, who just celebrated her 19th birthday, turned down a tennis scholarship to Harvard University earlier this year to pursue a pro career. Playing full time for a year, Fichman jumped 175 points in the rankings to her current position as 126th in singles and 97th in doubles, and is third among Canadians and Jewish players on the pro circuit. In 2009, she also won two challenger single titles, twice as finalist, and went from qualifying into the main draw of three major women’s top-tier tournaments.
Fichman hopes to crack the top 100 on the women’s pro tennis circuit. “I feel confident that I can compete against top players and hope to qualify into more top-tier events next year,” she said.
Since becoming Canada’s first tennis player since Carling Bassett to win the Orange Bowl 12 and under championship as an 11-year-old, expectations have been high that Fichman may become the next Bassett.
That hasn’t happened yet, as Bassett, long acknowledged as Canada’s best female tennis player, was ranked eighth by age 18 in 1985. However, tennis was mainly an American sport in Bassett’s heyday and now Fichman is competing against the best players from around the world.
Nevertheless, Fichman is ranked higher than any other Canadian her age, and the upside is that she is just beginning her pro career.
“I felt for a long time that Sharon may become one of Canada’s best tennis players, and I still feel that way,” said Rene Collins, Canada’s Fed Cup captain. “She is always confident and fights hard for every point, rarely beating herself. That attitude and work ethic go a long way to her success.”
Taking up tennis at age five, Fichman had a stellar junior career, winning the Banana Bowl at age 15 and the prestigious junior Australian and French Open junior doubles titles in 2006, and setting a record as the youngest athlete (at 14) to win the gold medal in singles for Canada at the 2005 Maccabiah Games.
Fichman is also the youngest ever to represent Canada at a Fed Cup competition, in 2005, and she was on the national squad again in 2006 and 2009.
Fichman won her first pro title at age 15 in Israel, where her brother Thomas, once a top Canadian tennis player himself, resides. Fichman’s Romanian-born parents emigrated to Canada from Israel in 1988. Fichman graduated from Forest Hill Collegiate Institute last year with an 88 average – a feat she is as proud about as her tennis.
“I can still go to Harvard later on if I want. This is my opportunity to prove what I can do in tennis and, by turning pro now, give myself a chance to be the best I can be,” she said.