OTA (Ontario Tennis Association) tournaments in Sudbury are something of a rarity.

As for OTA tournaments in Sudbury that can attract almost a couple of dozen competitors from the GTA and other hotbeds of tennis in Ontario - now we’re talking a unicorn of the sport-court variety.

Little wonder that the youthful influx that has breathed a certain level of excitement into the goings-on at the Sudbury Indoor Tennis Centre (SITC) were more than a little giddy about the six division 32 competitor event that also featured about a dozen local entries.

“I am glad to see more northern involvement in tennis,” said 15 year-old Luka Janicijevic, a grade 10 student at Lasalle Secondary who has been playing since the age of five or so. "It’s nice to have another outlet, other than going to Toronto or Ottawa to play people competitively.”

Janicijevic would split his two matches, defeating Cohen Lefebvre (6-2, 6-3) but falling to Thunder Bay product Matthew Foulds, 4-6, 3-6. “I came up short, but overall, I was not at all disappointed with my performance,” said the young man who was, not surprisingly, initially drawn to tennis in part through the connection with fellow Serbian countryman, Novak Djokovic.

“This was my fourth tournament ever.”

A swimmer back in the day and a fan of slightly less competitive soccer, Janicijevic appreciates the more solitary aspect of singles tennis action. “I like it not being so much of a team sport,” he said. “It’s one of the sports where it’s one on one; half the battle is with your opponent, half the battle is with yourself.”

“You don’t have to rely on anybody but yourself to push through.”

That, of course, can present something of a double-edged sword, the pressure of standing alone lingering as a hurdle that some deal with better than others. “As you play more matches, you gain more experience in dealing with it in your own way,” stated Janicijevic. “There’s not really a secret to it, something that will magically fix it.”

“You have to learn from it yourself. It’s the repetition of match play that helps to fortify your mind. There’s no other way to do it.”

Though boys U16 champion Noah Bulbring would get his first taste of tennis even earlier than his friend and clubmate (Janicijevic) at the Sudbury Indoor Tennis Centre, his link to the sport was not always one that held firm – or at least not as firm as a few of the other athletic pursuits, at times, of the 15 year old original native of South Africa.

“There are hospital photos of me with a tennis ball and a racquet in my hand,” said Bulbring, whose father accepted the head tennis pro position at the SITC roughly one year ago, bringing the very sports minded family to northern Ontario.

“I played once or twice a week until the age of 11 and then I really started to focus on golf.”

Making his way to Canada (with the family), the younger Bulbring who captured the U16 bracket with a 6-0, 6-4 triumph over Foulds after outlasting Kanwar Singh Jhattu on Saturday 2-6, 6-4, 10-6 would garner his first exposure to the cold and the snow – and also a re-exposure to the sport where he started.

“Ever since we moved here, I’ve fallen back in love with tennis,” said Bulbring, the eldest of the two siblings who competed, with Annie Bulbring beaten in the Girls U14 consolation final by Evelina Nicolaeva. “The environment is amazing. The people here are really nice and have really motivated me to play a lot.”

Having stepped away from competitive tennis for a few years, Bulbring noticed a bit of a metamorphosis of his game having now gone through a growth spurt. “As you get taller, your muscles get bigger which really helps the way you can play in so many different aspects of the game – the serve, for instance,” he explained.

“It’s harder to get the ball over the net and hit it hard when you’re shorter.”

As for a style of play that might be something of a trademark for the local teen, there is little doubt that coming to the net is a big part of his game. “I prefer attacking, for me personally,” said Bulbring. "If I have to play defence against a defensive player, I will do that. But I prefer attacking; it’s more fun.”

Ten year old Ethan Meixner was one of a large delegation of young talent that made their way up from south of Barrie – and while he would eventually take the Boys U12 division, it certainly wasn’t easy. Meixner would get the better of Noah Gwosdy in the final, going to a tie-breaker in posting a 6-4, 4-6, 10-4 victory, adding to his collection of hardware.

“I have a few trophies at home, mostly from tournaments down in Toronto, Oakville, Burlington – around there,” said the youngster who had never previously visited Sudbury. “I am really quick, so if they lob me, I can run back and get the ball – and my overheads are really good too.”

“I cover the court, at the net, in just two steps.”

To boot, Meixner has an excellent game plan in place for exactly when the nature of his rally would bring him to the net or not. “If I hit a really good ball, I would stay at the net becauseI would have the advantage,” he suggested. “But if I hit a weak ball right to them, I would probably back up because they could attack me – and it won’t go good for me at the net.”

Following are results from the remaining finals that were played on Sunday:

GS 16 – Mariia Shybanova beat Ava Mya Sanicharan
GS 16 – Consolation – Mya Joan Nebre beat Jane Walker
BS 16 – Consolation – Robby Harman Baas beat Cohen Lefebvre

GS 14 – Mackenzie Zeidel beat Leah Lalonde
BS 14 – Aarush Singh beat Zac Martynyshyn
BS 14 – Consolation – Vishnu Nair beat Logan Anderson

GS 12 – Veronica Rabinovich beat Juliana Calderone
GS 12 – Consolation – Adrienne Nelson beat Alexsandra Stanislavsky
BS 12 – Consolation – Rudra Singh Toor beat Phillip Zhao