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Sunny weekend ahead for City Singles tennis tournament

May 26, 2017 | 4:16 PM

 

MEDICINE HAT, AB — A sunny weekend is in story for the Medicine Hat Tennis Club’s first tournament of the year.

Some of the best men’s and women’s players from the southeast corner of Alberta will serve it up in the club’s annual City Singles championship.

“Everybody’s dusting off the rackets,” said club manager Ken Clement on the excitement felt around the Crestwood courts. “A few people have played over the winter, so not everybody is completely rusty. But people are going to go into this, find out where they are, and prepare for bigger tournaments down the road.”

Most of the publicity falls in the Men’s Open and Intermediate brackets. 16 players make up each section, while seven competitors are slotted into the ladies event.

Clement says it’s understandable to have fewer ladies for this tournament.

“We’ll look forward to seeing more of them down the road,” added Clement. “It’s been a bit of a slow start to the season with the weather being unpredictable.”

If weather predictions are correct, all 39 competitors are in for a weekend full of sunshine and blue sky.

The Men’s Open section brings defending champion Calvin Heller to the court as the number one seed. But Clement says there are plenty more top-level swingers who won’t go down easy.

“Challenging him at the other end is our number two seed Craig Weich. the Weich’s are a well known tennis family in town. We have young Mitch Fry who played with the Mavericks at one time. He’s found a passion for tennis, and it’ll be interesting to see what Mitch can do,” said Clement.

The tournament runs from May 26-28, with the finals for all three events on Sunday.