By Mitch Bach

Annual tennis tournament honours past member

Dec 30, 2016 | 4:16 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Tennis players gathered Friday to remember a friend the best way they know how.
The first day of the Renato Franchetto Memorial Doubles Classic is underway at the Cypress Centre Fieldhouse, bringing in 18 mixed-doubles teams, including 12 in the open bracket, to compete for the top prize.
Franchetto was a member of the Medicine Hat Tennis Club who passed away in a motor vehicle collision on the Trans-Canada Highway in December 2014.
“He passed away just shortly before we were going to play (the tournament),” said Ken Clement, manager of the club. “It was quite automatic that we would name the tournament after him, because he would’ve been playing it it.”
Franchetto was known as a fierce competitor on the courts, and Clement says he was also known as one of the friendliest people at the club.
“He was always there, he was always welcoming people, and inviting them to have a hit,” he said. “He left a big hole in the club, for sure, and this is the way we remember him.”
The event, while not as competitive as other tournaments the club hosts, still brings out some of the best players in the city, including defending champions Tracy and Calvin Heller, Kristen Norris and Mitch Frey.
“Some of our regular teams we see in the summer are out to play, and then we have a lot of new faces and new combinations as well,” said Clement. “It’s a lot of fun.”
The finals of the tournament continue at the Fieldhouse Saturday at 1 p.m.