Shrom big winner at Deer Lodge Classic

With wins over the first, third and fourth seeds, Saul Shrom captured the men's Open singles title at the 2012 Deer Lodge Classic on June 24. After beating Ray Daumler (No. 3) 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals and Sean Lacap (No. 1) 0-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the semis, Shrom got past Trevor Borland (No. 4) 6-1, 6-1 in the championship match. Borland advanced to the final with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over second-seeded David Jackson. Others singles winners on the men's side included Tom Brown (5.0), Daniel Stregels (4.5), Edmundo Filoteo Jr. (4.0), Rudy Florin (3.5), Vinh Nguyen (3.0), Dao Somvichith (2.5) and David Urquhart (2.0).

Parterning with Alex Lesiuk, Shrom also captured the men's Open doubles title. The pair beat Will McPherson/Geoff Kirbyson 6-3, 6-2 in the final. In 4.5 men's doubles final, the father-son duo of Edmundo Filoteo and Ian Vincent Filoteo edged Jack Grassie/Nathan Bodnarchuk 7-5, 6-4.

Meanwhile, Kylie Waschuk won the women's Open singles crown with a perfect 3-0 round-robin record. Waschuk scored wins over Ileana Ursatanu (6-0, 6-0), Lisa Bayko (6-3, 6-3) and Emily Fridrik (6-2, 6-1). In the 4.5 women's singles final, Eunice Filoteo beat Ileana Ursatanu 6-4, 6-2. Eunice also teamed up with brother Edumundo Filoteo Jr. to win the 4.5 mixed doubles. In all, the Filoteo family won four events at the tournament.

A total of 72 players took part in the Deer Lodge Classic, held June 16-24 at the Deer Lodge Tennis Club. Next up on the Tennis Manitoba Open Tour is the 2012 Manitoba Open Tennis Championships hosted by Kildonan Tennis Club.

Rogers Rookie Tour #2 Event Wrap Up

The second event on Manitoba’s 2012 Rogers Rookie Tour took place this past Sunday at the Winnipeg Winter Club. Robert Kennedy, with the assistance of Evan Mancer, led 12 participants in a dynamic warm-up, followed by a round robin tournament. All the participants had a great time. 

Make sure to sign up for the July 14th Rookie Tour event at the Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club. For more details, see the 2012 Rogers Rookie Tour schedule.

Wheelchair Tennis Fun Day & BBQ

On July 15, Kai Schrameyer, the National Wheelchair Development Coach, Wheelchair Tennis Former World #1 and three time Paralympian, will be offering an invaluable wheelchair coaching certification class. We are extremely lucky to have such an honourable, experienced figure help us certify our local coaches. Please contact the Tennis Manitoba office at 925-5660 or saul@tennismanitoba.com to register and take advantage of this great opportunity.

Next up on the Rogers Rookie Tour

The second Rogers Rookie Tour event of the season will run on Sunday, June 24th at the Winnipeg Winter Club. The focus of this tournament is introducing players to a friendly fun competition and making their initial introduction to tournament play as positive as possible.

The event will start at 9:00 am and run until 12:00 pm. From 9:00 am until 10:30 am, there will be ½ and ¾ court competition, with a switch to full court and full court transition at 10:30 am until 12:00 pm. The cost for the tournament is $20 and the format is a timed round robin.

To register contact Robert Kennedy at (204) 297-4020, rfkennedy61@gmail.com or online at www.courtsidecanada.ca/circuit/rogersrookiemanitoba

Juniors make a splash at WOW

The Kildonan Tennis Club played host to the
2012 World of Water Championships.

The 2012 World of Water Championships came to a close this past Sunday. There was some big time tennis and crucial results influencing the Tennis Manitoba provincial rankings in the points race towards Regionals and Nationals this summer.

The U10 co-ed category was unbelievably entertaining. With registrants from the ages of 7-9, these youngsters put the crowd in awe with their breathtaking talent and rallies. Hats off to Marcello Audino, Reece Carter, Sabrina Alano, Daniel Derksen, Sahand Marzban, Maya Arksey and Stefan Barre for an awesome tournament. Keep up the good work because of all of your futures in tennis look very bright with the inspiring work you put into the sport.

The U12 boys category saw the top U12 player in the province, David Krowiak, take care of business in an efficient fashion. In fact, Krowiak did not drop a game on his journey through the tournament. Great performance David!

The U16 boys category was the largest of the tournament and had its share of high level matches. At the end of the weekend, 14 year old, Patrick Fu was the last man standing as he put together a highly impressive performance to knock off Miraj Soni in an extremely competitive 3-6, 6-4, 10-0 final. Third place honors went to John Michael Florin.

The U18 draw saw Kevin Kylar, the top junior in the province, complete the tournament in a dominating fashion. Kylar also went through the draw without dropping a single game. He beat U16 finalist, Miraj Soni in the championship match. Third place honors went to Colin Stranc.

The U12 girls draw was a competitive and entertaining round robin. On Sunday morning, Sabrina Alano knocked off Reece Carter 7-5, 1-6, 10-8 in a see-saw battle that saw these two under 10 phenoms show off all they had under the hot sun. Congrats to both girls for a job well done and a rival for the ages. We look forward to seeing more great matches from you two in the future.

The U14 girls draw was also a round robin, which was won by Chantel Wallack. Her tournament clinching match came on Saturday with a solid, hard fought victory over Christiana Cholakis.

There was full participation in the U10 doubles category, which was equally as impressive as the U10 singles draw. These players once again took the crowd by surprise with their impressive strokes and fierce competitiveness. In the tournament’s only other doubles draw (U18), Patrick Fu and Miraj Soni defeated Colin Stranc and Raman Sharma 6-2, 6-2 to take the title.

The Tennis Manitoba Junior Tour will run its next event at the Glendale Country Club in the Head Junior Classic from June 7th-11th for U10, U12 and U16. Then, all categories will be offered at the Tuxedo Junior Open at the Tuxedo Tennis Club from June 13th-17th.

See also 2012 Tennis Manitoba Junior Tour

Tennis courts upgraded at Garden City Colligate

A big congratulations to Garden City Colligate and the surrounding community on the opening of their new 7 court tennis facility. The courts (4 newly surfaced, 3 remaining) were unveiled on Monday, June 4th just in time for students, teachers and the public to enjoy some great tennis on a wonderful day.

City TV was covering the opening of the new facility where a press conference was held headed by school staff and all of the people who made it possible to put up the courts. The courts are nicely surfaced with a safer surface than many outdoor public courts. This serves as a great addition to Winnipeg’s public tennis court community. Hopefully this idea for safe and physical recreation is adopted by other Winnipeg communities as well.

The following is the press release provided by the City of Winnipeg and Province of Manitoba:

GARDEN CITY COLLEGIATE ENJOYS NEW TENNIS COURTS FUNDED THROUGH THE MANITOBA-WINNIPEG BUILDING COMMUNITIES INITIATIVE

Local tennis players of all ages and abilities can now enjoy the newly upgraded courts at Garden City Collegiate thanks to the Building Communities Initiative (BCI) funding agreement between the Province of Manitoba and City of Winnipeg, Local Government Minister Ron Lemieux and Mayor Sam Katz announced today.

“These new tennis courts will give novices and seasoned players a safe place to enjoy their game and give community members another good reason to go outside, stay active and keep fit,” said Lemieux. “As we work together to improve recreational facilities, we demonstrate our shared goals of improving community assets, encouraging healthy lifestyles, revitalizing neighbourhoods and offering positive activity choices for everyone.”

BCI funding provided $150,000 cost-shared equally by the city and province for renovations to four tennis courts at the site including resurfacing, posts, nets, lines and fencing. The Seven Oaks School Division also provided $60,000 toward the replace the old basketball court at this site.

“The upgrading of these courts is another example of government working together to provide Winnipeggers more venues for outdoor recreation and for playing tennis in a safe and welcoming environment,” said Katz. “We encourage residents to be active and try out the new courts this summer.”

Since 2010, BCI funding of $10 million has been committed to 39 approved neighbourhood infrastructure projects throughout Winnipeg and work on many of the projects has been completed. The Building Communities Initiative is a multi-year, cost-shared capital initiative developed jointly by the Province of Manitoba and the City of Winnipeg. The goal of BCI is to support community revitalization through improvements to local community infrastructure in targeted older neighbourhoods and contribute to the vitality, safety and health of communities throughout the city.

Great start for rookies

Robert Kennedy with Rogers Rookie Tour players.

The Rogers Rookie Tour got off to a good start on May 27th at the Winnipeg Winter Club. Robert Kennedy guided the 16 participants in half-court, ¾ court and full court play to expand their court awareness, hand-eye co-ordination, familiarity with the ball, striking the ball, and introduction to competition.

Don’t miss out as the Rogers Rookie Tour continues on Saturday, June 16th at the Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club. Please contact the club at (204) 475-6549 to register.

See also 2012 Rogers Rookie Tour Manitoba