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MELBOURNE, Australia – Nadia Lagaev is representing the next generation of Canadian tennis players right now, as she’s the only one making main draws at the junior Grand Slams.

And she represented well at this year’s Australian Open, getting to the third round of singles before she was beaten by French-Russian hotshot Ksenia Efremova, the No. 3 seed, 6-2, 6-1 on Thursday.

The match was close than that score, with numerous long rallies that ended more with a Lagaev error than an Efremova winner.

“I think she’s really consistent and steady and I was just kind of making a bit too many unforced errors. So I just have to work on staying a bit more solid,” said Lagaev, who was accompanied by coach Ysaline Bonaventure (a longtime pro player) to the interview.

Along with her second round in doubles, that likely means Lagaev will do even better than her currently career-high ITF junior ranking of No. 24 when the new rankings come out.

She has also now completed the “career junior Slam”. Which is not something every kid gets to do.

Late bloomer – sort of

It’s been a gradual rise; Lagaev turned 18 earlier this month, and she only reached the main draw at the junior Grand Slam level last year at Roland Garros, when she was 17. And, as mentioned, she’s the only young Canadian player competing at this level at the moment.

Lagaev lost in the first round in Paris and at Wimbledon, and then won her first match at the Slam level at the US Open before falling to American Julieta Pareja (the junior Wimbledon finalist and the No. 1 seed) in New York.

Junior draws wide open

The top-shelf junior class of 2007 has aged out now. And players like Pareja, who is a 2009 (Lagaev is a 2008) have already moved on. The American has only played the junior BJK Cup finals since that US Open; she has played six high-level ITFs at the pro level since then.

Lagaev’s early-year birthday will make her older than most of her opponents in the junior majors this year – which can be an advantage. The last Canadian kid to win a junior Grand Slam singles title was Filip Peliwo, who turned 18 in late January of 2012.

That year, he made the Australian Open and Roland Garros finals, and won junior Wimbledon and junior US Open. Eugenie Bouchard, whose birthday is in February and who also was still playing juniors that year after she turned 18, was in a similar situation when she won junior Wimbledon in 2012.

For Lagaev, who verbally committed to the University of Georgia more than a year ago and officially signed to play for them from the fall of 2026 last November, all options are on the table.

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Tennis. If not – med school!

The official University of Georgia blurb about Lagaev says she intends to major in “biochemistry and molecular biology”. She told Open Court she was looking at medical school or dental school after that.

But for now, it’s all about tennis.

“If tennis doesn’t work out then I would head in that direction,” she said. “My schedule this year is definitely a mix of a pro tournaments and a lot of junior tournaments, too. Just trying to really get my level better and just keep working on myself and my game.”

Ideally, she would play the junior majors with perhaps a tuneup event or two before each, and devote the rest of the time to pro events.

Lagaev played a dozen junior events in 2025, winning four of them at the J200 level – two at home in Canada, the other two back-to-back in Santo Domingo, DR. She played six ITF pro events last year, all of them in Canada.

Her current WTA ranking is just outside the top 1,000, with the high of No 850 last July

Lefty coach to work on lefty serve

The addition of Bonaventure, a Belgian who recently retired from her playing career and told Open Court she will be doing more weeks this year with Tennis Canada working with the young talent, can only be serendipitous for the element Lagaev said needs the most work: her serve.

Bonaventure, too, is a lefty.

“I feel like her rhythm needs some change and she has to work on her toss. She has been tossing the ball way too many times and I feel like it’s still like not where it should be. So that’s something,” Bonaventure said. “Maybe some arm speed as well. I feel like she’s slowing it down a little bit too much so that’s something she can definitely work on and improve.”

A family affair

Lagaev has a brother, Nick, who is seven years older and who went through the whole process – although not quite to this level. But he was one of the top players in Canada in his age group, and played junior Davis Cup for Canada in 2017.

He then was a highly-recruited college player who chose the University of Arizona, and now is in the middle of studying to become a chiropractor.

“His biggest thing was for me to always be aggressive and always have a good attitude. He’s inspired me a lot,” said Lagaev, who basically took up the sport because her brother paved the way, and now has a built-in practice partner when she’s home.

From underdog, to seed, to pro

Even in her short journey so far, Lagaev said she’s already felt the sands shifting beneath her feet. From the kid playing up, to now being seeded at a junior Grand Slam, and onto the pro events, she’s the same player but navigating different circumstances.

“When I was a little bit younger I definitely felt like I was the underdog, and I felt like when I was playing older girls that they would definitely feel the pressure. Now, it’s been a little easier in the pros for me to be more loose, because my (WTA) ranking isn’t as good as my junior ranking, so I kind of have nothing to lose,” she said.

“But it’s a bit different than the juniors. The pros won’t really let you get away with not a good first serve where some of the juniors maybe will, or they’ll miss on bigger points,” Lagaev added. “I feel like in the pros they won’t really like lose the match; you have to be the one taking your chances and going after it.”

Trust the process

You know that “trust the process” is a mantra that gets drilled into all up-and-coming players these days. Some are all in. Some have such quick success that it’s tougher to get them to buy into the concept.

It took precocious Canadian stars like Genie Bouchard and Bianca Andreescu a long, long time not to base their self-worth on their tennis results. And even now, at 25, Andreescu is still learning to try to trust the process as she starts a career rebuild in the minor tennis leagues in Florida.

For Lagaev, who wants to be a top-100 pro and compete on the pro circuit, it’s about getting better, and letting the results come from that.

“I think the biggest thing for me right now is not to worry as much about the wins and losses but on improving. … Just trust the process and not be so kind of one-sided on the results,” she said. “I’ve known it for a while now. But now it’s becoming real. And all my coaches are, like. ‘It’s time for you to kind of believe in your shots more and just kinda go after it.’ “

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