A huge team of 46 Ottawa athletes are set to compete at the St. John’s 2025 Canada Summer Games in Newfoundland. The Ottawa Sports Pages will be sending out a free daily email newsletter with recaps, previews and profiles throughout the Aug. 9-24 national youth multi-sport event.

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By Martin Cleary

If Josh Adamson could put a label on the first 15 years of his life, TENNIS certainly would be appropriate.

Everywhere he looks, there are reminders of the court sport, whether it’s watching his parents at work, hitting balls with his older brother, collecting champion trophies or checking his schedule for practices, future tournaments and international travel.

It was only natural Adamson would be introduced to tennis as a young boy, since it’s an obsession for his Kanata family.

And he has made the most of his opportunity.

Not only is he the No. 1 boys’ U16 singles and doubles player in Canada, but also he helped Canada win the silver medal at the 2023 world junior U14 team championship, he’s ranked 209th on the International Tennis Federation list for all juniors 18 and under, and he’s aiming to qualify for Junior Grand Slam events in 2026.

But Adamson’s most immediate goal is his first Canada Summer Games, which start Saturday and run through Aug. 24 in St. John’s, NL. He hopes to spark Team Ontario to the gold medal in the mixed team event. There are no boys’ and girls’ singles draws in the Davis Cup-style competition.

Josh Adamson. Photo provided

There are many reasons for his early success and the first one can be found at home, where his family is all about tennis.

Jonathan, who is Josh’s father, is the tennis director and head pro at the March Tennis Club as well as founder of the Adamson Tennis Academy. He has been teaching for almost 30 years, after playing university tennis at Virginia Commonwealth, Radford (in Virginia) and Victoria.

Erin, who is Josh’s mother, is the club’s manager and head of the junior program. A human kinetics graduate from the University of Toronto, she has a vast knowledge of sports that can help her athletes.

Will, who is Josh’s older brother, was a quarterfinalist at the 2023 Canadian outdoor boys’ U16 championships. He also was a strong high school circuit player for Earl of March Secondary School before graduating in June. When Josh isn’t at the national training centre in Montreal, he’ll spend hours practising with Will.

“It’s a family sport. I don’t remember when I started playing, but I’ve always liked it. My brother plays and I’ve played with him. I like travelling and competing in a bunch of countries,” Josh Adamson said in a phone interview this week.

Adamson has been to Europe eight times to play in 12 to 15 tournaments so far in his career.

Josh Adamson in Guatemala. Photo provided

Winning tournaments has been a significant feature in his 2025 season. In March, he captured two boys’ singles titles and was part of two boys’ doubles championships at a pair of ITF J60 competitions in Guatemala.

For three weeks this spring, he won 13 of his 15 singles matches at two boys’ U18 tournaments in Romania, where he was a champion and a finalist, and one U18 tournament in Germany, where he reached the final.

“I gained lots of experience going there and playing on clay against players I don’t know,” Adamson explained. “I hope to improve my ranking to play in Junior Grand Slams.”

His overall singles record of 27-6 on clay and hardcourt surfaces has ranked him 209th in the world, which is three spots higher than his career-best of 206th in July. When the oldest juniors move into the senior ranks in 2026, he estimates his ranking could move him into the top 100.

Canadian U16 champion Josh Adamson. Photo: Tennis Canada

His latest gold-medal moments were at this week’s Canadian boys’ junior U16 championships in Toronto. The top seed in both singles and doubles, Adamson lived up to his ranking and won both disciplines.

He turned back Andy Tchinda Kepche, the national boys’ U18 singles champion, in the semifinals 6-3, 6-0 and Callum Mackinnon 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 in the championship final. In the doubles final, Adamson and Caden Colburne teamed for the doubles crown with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Mackinnon and Marc-Edouard L’Allier.

“I was down double-break at 4-1 in the third set before I came back,” explained the determined Adamson about his dramatic singles finish. “I was putting more concentration and focus (into the end of the match). I stayed there mentally and was able to come back.

“I was kind of thinking it might slip. But I still had a chance and I kept competing.”

He won the final five games to secure his second national outdoor title. At the 2023 age-group nationals, he captured the boys’ U14 singles championship.

Adamson, who is left-handed, has a balanced game of strong ground strokes and an effective serve.

“Mentally, I’m also strong,” he added. “In the final, I was down 4-1 and a lot of people figured it was done. But I’m good at fighting. My fighting and competing is a lot better. My serve and volleys are better. My backhands and forehands are better.”

Josh Adamson. Photo provided

Adamson is familiar with Tchinda Kepche and Colburne as all three players represented Canada at the 2023 ITF world junior boys’ U14 team tennis championship in Czechia and won the silver medal.

After Canada defeated Hong Kong 3-0, Morocco 3-0 and defending champion France 2-1 in preliminary pool play, Adamson, Tchinda Kepche and Colburne turned back the United States 2-1 in the quarterfinals and Germany 3-0 in the semifinals before losing to Czechia 2-0 in the final.

Josh Adamson and his Canadian U14 team. Photo provided

Adamson posted five singles wins before dropping his only match in the gold-medal final 6-2, 6-3.

“Finishing second was super unexpected,” he said.

In September, he will enter Grade 11 through the Ottawa Catholic School Board online education program. He had a 90 per cent average in Grade 10, which was his second year in the online program.

But before he blends academic work into his athletic schedule, Adamson will focus on the Canada Summer Games, which is a major domestic competition for developing Canada’s future Olympians. The Canada Games Council stages the Summer and Winter Games every two years. The 2027 Canada Winter Games will be Feb. 26 to March 15 in Quebec City.

The Canada Summer Games tennis competition is strictly a team competition. Provinces will go head-to-head with two boys’ singles, two girls’ singles, one boys’ doubles and one girls’ doubles matches. A mixed doubles match will be played to break a tie and decide the winner.

Each athlete can only play in one singles or doubles event. An exception is made for the mixed doubles tiebreaker.

“I’m really excited to go,” Adamson said about his second national tennis tournament this month. “We hope to win the event. Our girls are super strong and the boys also are strong.”

Ottawa at the Canada Games Daily Newsletter

A huge team of 46 Ottawa athletes are set to compete at the St. John’s 2025 Canada Summer Games in Newfoundland. The Ottawa Sports Pages will be sending out a free daily email newsletter with recaps, previews and profiles throughout the Aug. 9-24 national youth multi-sport event.

By clicking on the submit button, you consent to receive the above newsletter from the Ottawa Sports Pages. You may unsubscribe by clicking on the link at the bottom of our emails. Ottawa Sports Pages | 21 Kolo Dr., Ashton, Ont., K0A 1B0 | 613-261-5838

Martin Cleary has written about amateur sports for 51 years. A past Canadian sportswriter of the year and Ottawa Sports Awards Lifetime Achievement in Sport Media honouree, Martin retired from full-time work at the Ottawa Citizen in 2012, but continued to write a bi-weekly “High Achievers” column for the Citizen/Sun.

When the pandemic struck, Martin created the High Achievers “Stay-Safe Edition” to provide some positive news during tough times, via his Twitter account at first and now here at OttawaSportsPages.ca.

Martin can be reached by e-mail at martincleary51@gmail.com and on Twitter @martincleary.

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