The fierce competition drew in a crowd watching on the edge of their seats at the Junior Niagara Smash tournament last weekend.
The tournament, which was hosted at the NOTL Tennis Club, housed a boys and girls pool of U14 players. The winner in the boys pool was 14-year-old Kaleb Machado, and 13-year-old Karina Swaminath in the girls group.
Both players travelled from the Greater Toronto Area for the weekend and fought until the end of the three-day tournament to take home gold.
Tournament director Adam Wodz said these players are some of the best in the province, making the matches both exciting and unpredictable to watch.
There isn’t a huge amount of youth tennis in the Niagara area, so when this tournament runs, people like to come and watch, Wodz explained.
This year marks the second of the Junior Niagara Smash, but it was the first for the finalists.
“The stars aligned last year and people loved it, so we ran it again,” Wodz said about the event.
Even though the players are tough competitors, sportsmanship is always a priority.
Mike Desrosiers, a member of the NOTL Tennis Club, volunteered on each day of the tournament and said no matter what, each game ends in the players shaking hands amicably.
In the U14 age group, the players make the calls — whether it be if a ball is in or out of the court or who won a set. This means there is a level of sportsmanship at the root of the game, Desrosiers explained.
Cooperation is what makes a good, honest game, he added.
The sportsmanship makes the wins all the more worth celebrating.
Machado, the winner in the boys’ pool, didn’t lose a set the entire weekend. He said he recognized how challenging the competition was and was happy to have come out on top.
“A few years ago, I couldn’t have done this, so it’s nice to know I’ve come a long way,” the 14-year-old player said. He began playing tennis 10 years ago and trains six days a week.
His next step is preparing for a provincial tournament in Waterloo next weekend.
Swaminath, the winner in the girls’ pool, has been playing competitively for two years but started in the sport seven years ago.
Her dad, Anand Swaminath, said it’s great to watch her compete in the finals. He explained how some of the players already know each other because they are regular competitors, as tennis is a smaller sport in Ontario.
For this reason, Wodz said it would be hard to place a bet on which player would win.
At the end of the third day, though, two players had to come out on top.
Machado beat Ata Ozcirpici after two sets, 6-3 and 6-4.
Swaminath beat Misaki Rukovanjski after two sets, 6-3 and 6-2.
Wodz said the tournament was a positive environment and was happy to have the NOTL Tennis Club facility to run it.
