Marina Stakusic was dreaming big the moment she took up tennis at age 6.
The Mississauga, Ontario, native set her sights on the World No. 1 ranking and becoming a Wimbledon champ. For as long as she can remember, she's known what she wanted to do with her life.
"I didn't really have anything else on my mind. It was like, 'Yeah, I want to be a professional tennis player.' That was always my goal since I literally picked up a racquet," Stakusic said.
She burst on the scene with Team Canada at last year's Billie Jean King Cup final, and credits Novak Djokovic with partly inspiring her to manifest her own destiny.
A speech Djokovic made after his 2023 French Open title win, in which he referenced the same childhood goals the young Canadian set for herself, stuck with Stakusic.
Djokovic - now an Olympic gold medalist to go along with his 24 major titles - spoke about his self belief and how he tried to visualize everything he'd eventually accomplish, which strongly resonated with Stakusic.
"I remember he said, 'You can kind of create your own future and the outcome.' So I listened to that. Since then, I tried to do visualization (work) a lot," Stakusic told theScore.
She added: "Throughout the years, all of my coaches have pretty much said (visualization training) helps and works because your brain can't really tell the difference between if you're actually playing or if you're sitting there, focusing, and picturing yourself playing."
Stakusic turned pro two years ago, making her WTA Tour main draw debut in late August at the Granby National Bank Championships in Quebec. She earned her spot via qualifying and defeated then-World No. 152 Jaimee Fourlis in the opening round.
Stakusic then faced current top-20 player Marta Kostyuk, taking the opening set in a tiebreaker before eventually losing.
It wound up being Stakusic's last top-flight match for a while. She finished 2022 with two quarterfinal appearances in four tournaments on the lower-level ITF circuit.
As Stakusic was building momentum, her career quickly came to a halt. She sustained a torn patellar tendon in her knee at the beginning of 2023, forcing her to miss six months.
Stakusic kept herself busy, even though she wasn't able to hit a tennis ball. The 19-year-old watched whatever matches were on TV, analyzing different opponents' play. She swam frequently to keep her cardio up.
She also continued to visualize her future success while she recovered, and hit the ground running when she was back on court in July 2023.
Stakusic made back-to-back ITF quarterfinals within a month of her comeback. Her first of three 2023 ITF titles came in September at a W25 tournament in Valladolid, Spain. She added two W60 crowns over the next two months, registering wins over former World No. 35 Madison Brengle and future Wimbledon quarterfinalist Lulu Sun.
"At first, I was really disappointed with being injured," Stakusic said. "But I kind of just tried to keep my thoughts positive. I didn't realize how much visualization could actually help until I started to win some tournaments after. At that point I realized, 'Wow! Okay, this actually works.'"
Stakusic's strong run of form on the ITF circuit caught the attention of Canada's Billie Jean King Cup captain Heidi El Tabakh.
About a month before the Billie Jean King Cup finals, El Tabakh informed Stakusic she'd been chosen to represent Canada at the annual team competition called the "Women's World Cup of tennis."
It was a surprising selection, especially considering more experienced singles players Rebecca Marino and Genie Bouchard were available.
But Stakusic would prove El Tabakh right.
Then ranked 258th, Stakusic punched well above her weight, knocking off three top-60 opponents during Canada's inaugural championship run.
Stakusic displays an all-around game that stems from training under different coaches in Canada and Serbia during her early teenage years. She tallied 52 winners in a group-stage win over Magdalena Frech, aggressively attacking from the baseline and mixing in the occasional drop shot.
Stakusic's remarkable international debut earned her a spot in the ITF's Class of 2023, which recognized "the year's most promising talents."
But it was also an important learning experience.
Stakusic's lone defeat in four singles matches was a decisive 6-2, 6-1 loss to two-time Grand Slam winner Barbora Krejcikova in the semis, and a reminder of the work that lies ahead.
"It was definitely another level of tennis, for sure. But I saw that by playing against (Krejcikova) specifically, she was very present for every single point," Stakusic recalled. "She didn't give me any free points at all. So I really had to work extremely hard for every single point that I won.
"I think that's the difference between that kind of player and my ranking at the time. They were also all extremely calm, composed. Just very professional."
In the final round against Italy, Stakusic needed to stay even-keeled as Martina Trevisan continually threatened to seize control of the match.
Stakusic broke Trevisan when Trevisan attempted to serve out the first set up 5-4, and proceeded to win the next two games to take an early advantage. When Stakusic squandered four match points in the second set, she immediately regrouped and served out her counterpart at love.
Stakusic takes great pride in better managing her emotions, especially during high-pressure points. It's one of the qualities she admires most about Elena Rybakina, and Stakusic strives to carry herself in a similar manner to the 2022 Wimbledon champ.
"I like how she's kind of like me, where we're not really out there too much with the emotions. She's kind of calm," Stakusic said. "She doesn't get too excited or too down on herself at all. I was never the type of person who'd scream 'Come on!' at the top of my lungs. So, I can kind of relate to that a little bit."
She added: "I try and stay as composed as I can. Sometimes it doesn't always work out the way I want; sometimes my emotions get the best of me. But I try. I know that whenever I do that, it helps me just relax and start to focus on what I'm actually supposed to be doing, and not thinking too much about the outcome."
Stakusic's 2024 season has included more highlights. The rising talent made the Round of 16 at the WTA 500 San Diego Open, where she went the distance in a narrow loss to Wimbledon semifinalist Donna Vekic. Stakusic also qualified for her first Grand Slam main draw at Wimbledon after falling one win short at the French Open.
Currently ranked 160th, Stakusic will check off another milestone this week in Toronto, when she faces Erika Andreeva on Wednesday. It's Stakusic's main-draw debut at the National Bank Open, a tournament that's springboarded young Canadians in the past.
Denis Shapovalov broke through at the 2017 edition, beating Juan Martin del Potro and Rafael Nadal to become the youngest player to reach an ATP Masters 1000 semifinal.
Bianca Andreescu took it a step further in 2019, defeating Daria Kasatkina, Kiki Bertens, Karolina Pliskova, Sofia Kenin, and Serena Williams en route to the title on home soil.
Andreescu hoisted her maiden major trophy in New York a month later.
Stakusic aspires to be a Grand Slam champion one day. Seeing Andreescu win the 2019 US Open gave her motivation and made her dream feel "more attainable."
But she isn't putting any additional pressure on herself. She knows it's going to take time and is focused on the long-term process.
"I don't really have any result-oriented goals right now," Stakusic said. "But it's just working on specific aspects of my game: my serve, forehand, the movement. I think as long as I improve that, the results will start to come."
