2013 Tennis Manitoba Junior Tour

Kylie Waschuk pictured here at the Canadian Mid-West
ITF U18 2012 held at the Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club.

The 2013 schedule for the Tennis Manitoba Junior Tour is now available, and includes eight tournaments held in Manitoba from February through to October. Competitive tennis players 18 years of age and younger will want to circle the tour dates on their calendars, as the local tournament circuit is used to qualify Manitoba players for the Canadian Junior National Championships, as well as track annual tour points races in four age categories.

Returning to the 2013 tour, is a clay court tournament hosted by Taylor Tennis. The last clay court tournament for juniors was the LM Architectural Group Junior Open, hosted at Taylor back in June 2009. The 2013 Junior Tour stop at Taylor is scheduled for September 16th to 20th, and provides players an opportunity to try out their game on Manitoba's only clay courts. Tennis Canada intentionally hosts three out of four age categories at the outdoor junior nationals on the clay surface. The softer surface is recognized internationally for a player’s greater all round development, injury prevention and longevity, and integration onto the professional tour.

New to several tour tournaments this year will be a 3/4 court event for those eight years old and younger. Participants in the U8 event will play short sets of up to 4 games in a round robin format using modified balls, courts, and racquets. This is a great way to introduce our future tennis stars to the game.

Tennis Manitoba is also introducing a new tournament publication system for the 2013 season, which will offer increased player match statistics, rankings, and an iPhone and Android mobile app later in the year. Participants of Tennis Manitoba sanctioned events will now be required to create an online member account which will enable them to register and pay for tournaments.

The 2013 Junior Tour gets kicked off at the Winnipeg Winter Club with the Kids Dental Junior Open being run February 21st through to the 24th. The registration deadline for players is Monday, February 18th at 11:59 pm.

The 2013 Tennis Manitoba Junior Tour schedule also includes dates for junior national and international events that take place in Canada. For complete details, check out tennismanitoba.com