Canada's Rebecca Marino eager for 'electric feeling' of playing National Bank Open

CBC

6 days ago

Bright lights. Big opponents. Canadian fans chanting her name.
Rebecca Marino remembers every detail of her run at the 2021 National Bank Open.
"Having that first match with [American Madison] Keys on centre court, a night match, and I just remember the crowd being so encouraging and really pushing me to win that match," she said of the first-round victory. "It was just kind of like this electric feeling. I was like, 'Oh, I want more of that.'
"Those are the things you remember, more like the emotion and that sort of thing, not necessarily the points or like something specific that happened, but just that atmosphere."
It's a feeling Marino will look to recapture this weekend when she returns to the tournament in Montreal.
The 34-year-old Vancouver native received a wild-card spot in the main draw earlier this week and will be one of a record-high eight Canadian women competing at the hard-court event.
"It's very rare we get opportunities to compete in tournaments at home, and the National Bank Open is the largest event we have," she said. "So it's really just exciting to play at home, in front of family and friends there. It's really incredible."
The Canadian contingent includes a mix of up-and-coming players such as Carson Branstine and Victoria Mboko, and longtime favourites Leylah Fernandez, Bianca Andreescu and Genie Bouchard.
Bouchard recently announced that the tournament will be her last as a professional tennis player. Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C., is also set to retire after the men's tournament in Toronto.
Both are players Marino has grown to know well during her career and, if a tribute video is played on the big screen, she expects to be among those in the stadium wiping tears from their eyes.
"It's interesting seeing my peers start to retire," she said, noting that both Bouchard and Pospisil have been "integral" to Canadian tennis.
"They had a huge amount of Canadian pride. So I think it's going to be really special for them to compete one last time in front of the home crowd. It's pretty crazy, but I'm very happy for them. It's like a celebration."
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Marino has no plans to hang up her racket.
Currently ranked No. 118 in the world, Marino is pleased with how she's been playing, even through the grass season — which she admits is not her favourite.
She conquered the tricky surface at the Ilkley Open, a WTA 125 event in the U.K. last month, where she made it to the final before falling to American Iva Jovic.
"I've embraced the grass, and I've learned to love it," Marino said. "Hard court is my bread and butter, particularly this North America hard court swing. And right now I'm feeling fit, I'm feeling healthy, I feel like my game is heading in the direction I want it to head in."
Earlier in the year, the six-foot-tall right-hander briefly climbed back into the WTA's top 100 players, hitting No. 98 ahead of the Australian Open in January.
Marino dropped a tightly contested first-round match to Britain's Katie Boulter in Melbourne, but says she's been playing consistent tennis all year.
"I feel like I just have to retain or maintain that sort of feeling that I belong with that top level, and I can compete with that top level," she said. "And in tennis, you have to pick yourself up every single week. Regardless of what happens, only one person wins the entire tournament.
"But look, I feel like I'm right there and it can click at any moment. And in Ilkley, I had a great week, and it clicked. And then I'm hoping I can have another moment like that."
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Learning to accept the ebbs and flows of the sport has been a process for Marino.
After hitting a career-high No. 38 in June 2011, she stepped away from the professional game in 2013 after dealing with depression and cyberbullying.
She went back to school, joined the University of British Columbia's rowing team, and learned how to believe in herself.
Five years later, Marino returned to tennis with a new outlook.
"[The time away] allowed me to reflect and re-centre my identity and how tennis is a part of that, and not this whole part of my identity," she explained. "It's a piece of the Rebecca pie, so to speak."
Adjusting her perspective allowed Marino to fall back in love with her sport.
And as long as she's in love with tennis and feeling healthy, Marino plans to keep playing.
"When I came back to tennis, it allowed me to appreciate it in a different way. And it was 100 per cent my choice. I wasn't just going through the motions of it. I wanted to be there. I loved being there," said Marino, who's also found love off the court.
She recently got engaged to her partner, James Wasteneys.
Balancing her busy tournament schedule with planning a wedding will be a challenge, Marino admitted, but one she's eager to embrace.
For now, though, she's focused on Montreal and the unique opportunity to play in Canada.