Doubles tennis can be some of the most exciting you can watch but for some people, it’s simply more fun to play.
The latter could be the reason why another big crowd showed up to play in the Yellowknife Tennis Club’s Blachford Lake Lodge Doubles Tournament, which wrapped up this past Sunday. As the title indicates, it was strictly a doubles event with no singles whatsoever.
There were three divisions in play — men’s, women’s and mixed — and several teams competing in all, said Anna Coles, the club’s president and tournament co-organizer.
“We had 22 teams in the mixed doubles and that has to be a record of some sort,” she said. “It certainly surpassed the amount we had in last year’s tournament.”
The women’s doubles featured 10 teams and eight in the men’s doubles, she added, with a total of 57 players registered for the whole thing.
Play began back on Aug. 17 and continued right through to this past Sunday with the finals in all three divisions, said Coles, with just one small hiccup along the way.
“We got rained out on the Thursday and it could have been worse but we had great weather the rest of the way,” she said. “Plain sailing after that and we easily made up those postponed matches from the Thursday.”
On the court, Stephen Messier and Nikhilesh Gohil took the men’s doubles title by beating the duo of Brooke Harker and Alex Godfrey in straight sets by scores of 6-4 and 7-5 while Coles and her partner, Dawn Keim, fell to the team of Tamara Jovic and Maureen van Overliw in the women’s doubles final in straight sets; 6-1, 6-2.
“It was a rather decisive defeat,” said Coles.
Coles would get a measure of revenge in the mixed doubles final as she teamed up with Gohil to win that over the duo of Jovic and Cole Clinton in straight sets; 6-3, 6-2.
In addition to the tennis, there was a draw for a getaway for two to Blachford Lake Lodge on the Saturday, which was won by Ryan Vanderkruk.
“I’m sure (the prize) drew in some extra people to play,” said Coles.
This was the second year running that the tournament has been held and Coles said it’s quickly become an established event on the calendar.
“It nicely fills in a gap between tournaments in August and it’s turned into one of the more popular ones,” she said. “We’ll definitely keep it going so long as the numbers stick around where they are right now.”