On the weekend a contingent of tennis players from Whitehorse’s sister city Juneau, Ak., travelled to the territory to compete in the annual. 2019 Capital Cup.

The Capital Cup was started in 1983 and held intermittently until it was re-started on an annual basis in 2008. Since the tournament’s restart, Whitehorse has won the capital cup six times and three behind Juneau who has won nine.

The Capital Cup runs like the Davis Cup of the World Cup of Tennis. Both Whitehorse and Juneau play a variety of matches, from doubles to singles, and the scores from the games are totalled together for a team score.

The matches were games to eight.

In the 2019 Capital Cup, Juneau was unable to hold onto the title and had to pass the cup over to the Whitehorse team. Whitehorse won with a score of 464 games to 415 to retake the top prize after holding it the three years prior to 2018.

The final scores were higher than last year’s total when the Alaskan capital had 325 points over 289 for Whitehorse.

Stacy Lewis, the organizer on the Yukon side, said it was a surprisingly large margin of victory.

“We play one pro set so one game to eight,” said Lewis. “If you get a few those 8-0, 8-1 scores you can really push the score up.”

For Whitehorse, it was the largest team that has been fielded for a capital cup. There were 25 men and five women competing.

“We had new players who were new to Whitehorse and competing in their first Capital Cup,” said Lewis. “It was the biggest team we have fielded and tennis is growing steady. People are stepping forward and want to be involved.”

The large team of Yukoners Lewis believes helped secure the Capital Cup, and said part of it was that the Whitehorse players weren’t as tired as the weekend progressed.

The skill of the players was on full display. Those watching the matches on the four courts at Mount McIntyre outdoor tennis courts.

Both sides of the court, the Yukoners and the Alaskans had a full repertoire of shots working on the weekend, making every point earned hard-fought.

Lewis said since both cities are so small it is great for everyone to have new faces to play against. As well, there is some chirping back-and-forth while on the court.

“There is a little good-natured trash talk,” said Lewis, “but the two cities have a real affinity to each other.”

With the Capital Cup secured in Canada, Lewis said the hope is that at some point they can make their way to Juneau to play them on their home turf. The difficulty as the moment lies in that Juneau only has two indoor courts.

The event which usually has a mayor’s wager did not occur this year as Juneau has a new mayor in office and did not have enough notice to make the bet. Lewis said it is a feature of the Capital Cup which will happen next year.