It may have been a repeat of last year’s final but it took at least twice as much effort as Scott Evans and Brian Swanson were able to beat the dup of Bryce Warren and Nicholous McGonigal to claim the Moose Jaw Tennis Club’s 2022 men’s doubles championship.
Playing the final match indoors due to the rain during the tournament, Evans and Swanson were able to come from behind winning the final two sets 6- 1 and 6 - 3. Warren and McGonigal won the first set 6 - 4.
“It feels good; we were defending champions but they brought a real solid game to us today it was not easy at all,” Evans said.
Asked if he thought it was going to be a tough matchup, Evans said it was something they knew from the start.
“We knew right from the beginning it was going to be pretty tough. They were here to play and they didn’t make a whole lot of mistakes today and we had to keep our mistakes to a minimum or we would have lost that,” he said.
About the first set, where McGonigal and Warren came out strong from the first serve, he said “they played hard the whole time. There were no easy points to be had today.”
The strong play by their opponents was not unexpected.
“They are two young players with fresh legs and they’re tough to beat at any given time.”
About having to play the final indoors instead of outdoors, Evans said there were some key differences in the style of game but it gave no advantage to either side.
“I don’t think it helped anybody. I think we would have had a little bit longer rallies if you take the roof out of play. Definitely, it could have prolonged some things but in the end you work with what you got and you know we figured out a way to di it in the end. It wasn’t easy,” he said.
The final match had to be held indoors at the Golden Ticket Sports Centre, where the Moose Jaw Tennis Club has an indoor court, because there were heavier rain showers all day on Sunday, Aug. 28.
“There were some changes. I am not a high lobber but Brian (Swanson) is. You know the first set, we had a lot of bounces that didn’t go our way and we had to keep our chin up and keep moving forward. We were able to do that without losing our cool,” Evans said.
Asked about the third set where Swanson’s serves came out strong, Evans said for doubles tennis it is crucial.
“Generally in tennis it is a server’s game. Generally in doubles’ tennis the server should win their game where you have your opportunities if you can break your opponent’s serve and get up a game is where you get your chance for victory,” Evans said, adding “everybody was holding serve there we knew if we got broke or they got broke it was going to determine the match.”
In the third set, there were no aces but strong serves from Swanson and Evans made it difficult for their opponents to return the serve in a way that set an rally up in their favour.
The match was intense and highly competitive with both sides giving it their all to win the Club’s championship. As it was held indoors, with the time determined almost in the last minute, there were no spectators at the match.
“It was a grind and I think on some of the longer rallies we came out on top more often than not which is good. Tennis can be a cruel game it can come down to three, four or five points in the match to dictate whether you are going to win or lose,” Evans said.
It is a sentiment repeated by opponent Nicholous McGonigal.
“It could have went either way,” McGonigal said.
“The competition level was very high today. And we lost the first set so our back was against the wall and we managed to pull it off,” said an out of breath Swanson.
“I was very happy my partner Scott played very well. Nick and Bryce played very well to. It was a good match,” he said.
Asked about his being out of breath and doing a lot of sweating, Swanson attributed it to the humidity as well as the intensity of the play.
Asked about the age difference and if he thought that it might play a role Swanson said he was just happy to play tennis.
“Each year I am just thankful to be able to continue to play. Each year is a blessing.”
“That was really a high quality match today. It was really good tennis, lots of long rallies and lots of hard hitting. It was fun to play and it gets a little nerve wracking at the business end of the third set I will tell you,” he said.
Warren was gracious in the loss but was appreciative of the strong play throughout the match.
“We played better this year and it was fun. It was a good match and it was higher quality than last year,” he said.
“We got a great workout. We sweated out a lot of liquids,” Warren said about the championship match, adding “I am just going to go home and have a nap now before I go to work.”
“It was fun. We have good matches against them all of the time.”
Asked about the first set where it seemed the returning challengers were on top of the match he said it start great and didn’t continue.
“We were on (in the first set) and then we just couldn’t hold up. At our level we just couldn’t do her.”
“We weren’t getting as many balls in play. We were missing our returns for sure. Missing our returns it all adds up,” he said, adding “it puts more pressure on you.”
Warren said there was a different strategy playing indoors than ouitdoors.
“For sure it is different (indoors) because you don’t have a lob in here. So you can go to the net more because you don’t have to worry about a lob. You can charge the net a lot easier. And you can’t cover an out wide serve or an out wide ball because you’ll run into the wall,” he said.
“It’s a different kind of game. It is more a power game than a finesse game (playing indoors).”
Asked if he thought playing the final match inside favoured either team Warren said he didn’t know.
“I don’t mind playing this inside.”
Due to the rains and the availability of only a single court to finish the Club’s championships in both men’s, women’s singles and doubles matches, not all of the championships were decided over the weekend.
Article courtesy MJ Independent.
