The ITF’s ‘Class of…’ series recognises and celebrates players who have had a successful year on the ITF World Tennis Tour, identifying the year’s most promising and breakthrough talents, and those predicted to go on to bigger and better things next year. 
 
This year’s final five was decided by a panel of experts: Ashley Keber (WTA), James Marsalek (ATP), Mark Woodforde (ITF), Mary Pierce (ITF) and Nao Kawatei (ITF), following a vote from a shortlist of 18 players.

Next up, it’s a Canadian player who returned from injury in style on the ITF World Tennis Tour before going onto make an explosive debut at the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup Finals.

It is probably fair to say the wider tennis world didn’t see Marina Stakusic coming.

The Canadian crept up on the global game with all the nimble stealth of a cat, before announcing herself at November’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Seville with the sort of attention-grabbing display that would accompany said feline if it belly-flopped into a large pot of paint.

Stakusic, who turned 19 last week, played a significant part in Canada winning the women’s World Cup of Tennis for the first time, providing formidable back-up for Leylah Fernandez in singles that few would have thought Canada possessed in the absence of Bianca Andreescu.

She overcame world No. 65 Rebekah Masarova and No. 63 Magdalena Frech to set the Canadians off and running against Spain and Poland and, though world No. 10 Barbora Krejcikova proved a test too far in the semi-finals, recorded another sublime win over No. 43 Martina Trevisan in the Final to tee up Fernandez to clinch the title.

Stakusic’s efforts, and assuredness, were remarkable - particularly in light of having no previous big-stage experience.

But that ability was not born out of one inspirational week in Seville.

It was Stakusic’s progression on the ITF World Tennis Tour through the latter part of the 2023 season that earned her a place on Heidi El Tabakh’s team in the first place.

"Playing on the ITF Tour has helped me develop my game by playing on different surfaces against many different players of all levels from all over the world"

“Playing on the ITF Tour has helped me develop my game by playing on different surfaces against many different players of all levels from all over the world,” said Stakusic. “For the last few years I’ve been playing on the ITF Tour, but this last year in particular I had great success.”

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The Canadian’s developing maturity no doubt helped with that, but so too did the fortitude she built up after spending the first six months of the season on the sidelines with injury.

Stakusic didn’t strike a competitive ball between her first event of the year in January and her second in mid-July, but she returned to the tour in high confidence and stormed through the field for her first professional title at W25 Valladolid in late August.

Her second - and first W60 title - soon followed in Berkley, which she collected as part of an 11-match winning streak that earned her ITF World Tennis Tour Player of the Month honours for September.

She won her third title of the year at W60 Toronto in late October, with her victory over Croatian Jana Fett completing a run of 17 match-wins from 18 matches played, and three titles in five tournaments.

Her coach, Elena Bovina, describes her turnaround as ‘amazing’, but one that came from a laser-focussed approach away from the match court.

"[She has a ] never-say-die attitude, that x-factor that she has in her personality, to never give up no matter what"

“Marina showed up to practice every day showing her commitment and giving her best effort,” Bovina reflected. “Day after day she worked on developing her tennis identity as a tennis player, perfecting her technique, adding more tools to her game such as short cross court angles, quick changes of direction, coming to the net and much, much more.

“When Marina started competing again [on the ITF World Tennis Tour], she did a great job applying everything she learned in practice into her matches, increasingly gaining her confidence with each victory.

“I think that approach, and her determination to keep course, led her to great results in the second half of the year, finishing on a high note with victory at the Billie Jean King Cup. That and of course her never-say-die attitude, that x-factor that she has in her personality, to never give up no matter what.”

Stakusic ends 2023 with a 26-5 win loss record for the year, her first three ITF singles titles, a career-high ranking of No. 258, and a Billie Jean King Cup winner’s trophy.  

Having laid the foundations on the ITF World Tennis Tour and proved she can mix it with the best on the biggest stages, it is easy to see why the 19-year-old is being tipped to continue her rapid rise in 2024.

Stakusic joins Portugal's Henrique Rocha in the ITF Class of 2023. Stay tuned for the remaining three players to be announced each day this week.