Photo by Photo Submitted
DOING THEIR PART – Whitehorse players Anne Copland, left, and Lissa Abel work together to return a ball to their Alaskan opponents during Capital Cup tennis tournament play at the Mount McIntyre courts last weekend. Photos courtesy of DENNIS SENGER
Photo by Photo Submitted
STRETCHING OUT – Whitehorse’s Zain Sayed reaches to return a ball to a Juneau opponent in singles action. Photos courtesy of DENNIS SENGER
Photo by Vince Fedoroff
GIVING KUDOS – Whitehorse Mayor Dan Curtis sports a local ball cap at city council.
The rivalry is closer than ever.
The rivalry is closer than ever.
But – luckily for Whitehorse Mayor Dan Curtis – the Yukon came out on top in the latest Capital Cup tournament, held at the Mount McIntyre tennis courts last weekend.
The annual sister-city challenge between Whitehorse and Juneau teams concluded with the host team winning 235-223 on aggregate game score.
In total, 38 eight-game pro-set matches were played, with the game score ending tied 19-19, said Tennis Yukon president Stacy Lewis.
But in order to recognize each player’s complete contribution, aggregate game scores were used, resulting in a win for the hosts.
The Juneau team consisted of 17 players, including an import from Haines. Whitehorse, in turn, fielded 18 players.
The historic tournament started in the ’80s, was shelved for a term, then revived in 2008 after a long hiatus.
“Since 2008, its been played 12 times, sometimes indoors in Juneau and sometimes outdoors in Whitehorse,” explained Lewis.
“Juneau has won eight times and Whitehorse has won four times.”
Games were played Friday night and throughout the day Saturday in both singles and doubles formats.
Last year’s tournament saw a group of 10 Juneau players stun a 21-player contingent from Whitehorse 195-158.
This year’s tournament enjoyed a unique addition that saw the two city’s mayors place a friendly wager on the outcome.
On Monday, Whitehorse Mayor Dan Curtis donned a bright orange city ball cap during Monday’s regular council meeting to display what his counterpart, Juneau Mayor Merrill Sanford, would be wearing at the next meeting of Juneau city council.
“Thank you very much for playing Mayor Sanford,” Curtis said.
Organizers sent back a Whitehorse cap and sweatshirt with players for Mayor Sanford.
Now, the focus of Tennis Yukon will shift to the territorial championships, set to begin today and run until Aug. 21.
The Yukon championships will feature senior men’s and women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles, while juniors will compete in singles play.
For info on the local tennis scene, visit yukon.tenniscanada.com/.
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