“When we opened the NTC, he
made the decision not to go to
Virginia on a scholarship and
instead hooked up with Guil-
laume Marx, who is now Felix’s
coach.”
As tennis fans will remember,
“Raonic had a phenomenal
breakthrough” in 2011, says
Downey, rising from 155th to
37th in the world in the span
of about three months. “And
what that did was inspire these
kids. Felix, Denis, Bianca were
all about ten years old watch-
ing this.”
Daniel Coyle, author of The
Culture Code: The Secrets
of Highly Successful Groups,
writes “Beneath every big
talent lies an ignition story—
the famously potent moment
when a young person falls
helplessly in love with their
future passion.”
Downey believes that Raonic
and Bouchard gave Canadian
tennis the ignition it needed in
2011, allowing the next cohort
of players to dream bigger.
“They could relate to them,”
says Downey. “Here are Cana-
dian players doing well in
singles! When you take that
new level of confidence and
belief, it means they can dream
big. Couple it with a better
understanding with what it
takes from a training practise,
Denis Shapovalov - Miami Open Credit: Mauricio Paiz
6 BUSINESS ELITE CANADA | JUNE 2019
