The 2021 Tennis Yukon Championships wrapped up this past Friday.

Twelve adults and five children participated in the event.

Stacy Lewis is a director with Tennis Yukon. She sent out the draws for the Championships on August 18, which gave people about three weeks to complete the matches.

“Partly because of COVID, we set it up to run over the course of three weeks. We set up the round robin draws, and the players arranged their own times for matches.

“Rather than have a big group of people all at the courts for a day, this kind of spreads out the people and the matches, which also helps us, because at this time of year the weather’s a little iffy.

In the past we’ve had it on a single afternoon, and that afternoon gets rained out, it becomes a little complicated, so that helps in that way too. Weather-wise and COVID-wise it’s good.”

The kids played in a U12 (under 12) round-robin. Two girls and three boys took part in the event.

The junior event was run as a round-robin with five players. They only got two rounds in before the rain came, but at the end of two rounds, twins Cameron and Alexandra Grandy were tied for first place after both winning their first two matches, and were declared the winners. Avery and Connor DeJong, along with Joshua Gonzalo, also took part in the junior round-robin.

There were no junior doubles matches.

The men’s singles draw ran as two round-robin pools with play-offs, with the final taking place last Friday at 5 p.m. between Kyle Marchuk and Shahid Syed.

Marchuk won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. He last won in 2008, but has been in the finals in other years.

To get to the finals, Marchuk beat Florian Boulard 6-1, 6-1 and Syed ousted Michel Gelinas 6-0, 6-1.

Other participants were Aviam Soudack, Muhammad Idrees, John Tran, and Shinya Jomura.

The Mixed Doubles final was played last Thursday at 5 p.m. Ryan Lane and Carly Bohman defeated Laurie Drummond and Michel Gelinas 6-0, 6-2.

There were no ladies’ singles or ladies’ doubles draws.

Bohman and Lane also competed in a thrilling Men’s Doubles final, outlasting Shahid Syed and Michel Gelinas by a score of 6-3, 5-7, 10-8. Bohman played in the men’s doubles due to her strong play and lack of a ladies’ doubles draw.

Bohman, who has been a coach for Tennis Yukon since 2017, relates how the tournament went for her.

“It was a round-robin format. It was a little bit smaller this year, so you play everyone within your bracket, and this is the second year Ryan and I have played together. Our matches went really well. These are players that are frequenters of the tennis courts, so I’ve played them all before, and … it went well.

“With the mixed we did a round-robin, and then we had a final. With the men’s (doubles), it was actually just one other team, so we just played the one match. It was really close, and I decided to have that be the finals as well. Normally the doubles is a little bit larger, but it was a little bit smaller this year with COVID restrictions.”

The men’s doubles went down to the wire.

“That match was really close,” says Bohman. “I think there’s a moment it could go either way. The last set, it came down to … a super-tiebreaker. It’s just 10 points, as opposed to a full set, and we won that … 10-8. It came down to two points, and we were able to rally and get those last final points. But it was very tight.”

According to Bohman, in this situation, a super-tiebreaker is automatic.

“We won the first set, they won the second set, and then for the third set it went to a tiebreaker. If we won both sets, there would be no tiebreaker played … it’s best two out of three.”

Bohman said the double doubles victory feels great.

“I feel good. It was really fun, and I really like the fact that I can still play competitively. I really like playing with my doubles partner, so it’s always a good feeling to win.”

“I love the community, the tennis community as well, and to be able to get some competitive points in during a weird two seasons was really great.”

Bohman is planning on playing with Lane against next year.

“I hope so … It’s really good. We play all summer and we kind of end the season with playing doubles together, so I think it will be a partnership that will continue.”

“Ryan Lane actually grew up playing doubles here, and he took a few years off, and then began playing some tennis again last summer, and it’s a good Yukon story. Like, a lot of people grew up playing tennis here, and he’s been really successful the last two years, which is cool,” added Bohman.

Lewis says Tennis Yukon normally holds two big events per year.

“This is our second year of only having Yukon champs (championships) as our sort of only tournament, because our big tournament of the summer is when Juneau comes … for a Capital City Challenge. They haven’t been able to come in 2020 or 2021. So it’s been a little quieter tournament-wise these last two summers. But hopefully next summer we’ll be back on track with two competitive events for the season.”

Tennis Yukon tries to leave the nets up until Thanksgiving weekend, weather permitting. They need to get them put away before the snow comes.

During the off-season, the organization offers lessons in the school gyms over the winter and some programs at the Canada Games Centre in the Flexihall. So they do manage to keep up some programming in the winter.

Then they try to get the nets up again in May.

“The last two or three years we’ve been able to get them up at that time,” relates Lewis. “Prior to that, some years, it was May long weekend, because the snow was so stubbornly holding on.”

Lewis adds that, despite the spectre of COVID, it has been a good summer for Tennis Yukon.

“We had great participation this summer. We had about 200 season-pass holders, which included lots of families … both last summer and this summer, I think we sort of benefited from being an activity that was pretty COVID-safe, and offered people some outdoor recreation options.

“The courts have been busy. We have court booking now, which is a new development, and people have really liked that, ‘cause it saves them from going and standing around when the courts are full.

“Our participation rates this summer were great, and the weather was quite good, so we had lots of activity at the courts this summer, which was super.”