Pro tennis players duke it out at Sargent Park

Three-time Manitoba open doubles champion Museen Ismath waits
for the serve in the qualifying round of the Manshield Tennis Futures
tournament at Sargent Park Tennis Garden.

[Courtesy of Geoff Kirbyson, Winnipeg Free Press]

This might be your only chance to see future tennis champions in the flesh.

The Manshield Tennis Futures, the first professional tennis tournament in Winnipeg since the 1999 Pan Am Games, features a strong international flavour at the Sargent Park tennis complex this week.

Players from across Canada as well as the U.S., Mexico, Italy, Great Britain and New Zealand are vying for valuable ranking points as they try to make their way up the professional tennis ladder.

Vancouver’s Filip Peliwo, 18, who won the boys singles championship at Wimbledon last month – the same title won by legends such as Roger Federer, Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg and Pat Cash – is the No. 5 seed.

He said he’s hoping to use this International Tennis Federation tournament as a final step in his preparation for the U.S. Open juniors.

See also WFPtv video.