Jon LaFontaine hadn’t played a tennis tournament in eight years.
Turns out that long layoff didn’t do him any harm.
The 44-year-old city utilities supervisor was in championship form all weekend at the Prince George Tennis and Pickleball Club and saved his best for last in Sunday’s tennis singles final, earning a three-set victory over Thomas Tannert to win the Prince George Open title.
Better known for his athletic prowess on the soccer field, LaFontaine overcame a 6-4 loss in the opening set to take the next two, 6-2 and 6-3, to win the match and claim the Matt Altizer Memorial Cup.
“This feels great. I forgot how mentally tough it is during your matches, because (in practice games) you always just rally around, but then you get into (tournament play) and it’s the mental part, with the cow bell and the excavators going in the background.”
The match was punctuated by long rallies, slicing backhand winners from both sides and only rare serving faults and Lafontaine made fewer unforced errors to turn it in his favour.
“Thomas plays really consistent, good passing shots and he plays a flat ball where most guys I play with have topspin, so I found myself just trying to play consistent and not go for the big winners and keep the ball in play and just pick and choose when I had the chance to go for a winner there,” said Lafontaine.
“I normally like to hit harder than that but when you play like that with a flat ball you hit it out every time, so I was playing his game almost, letting up on shots to keep the ball in play.”
LaFontaine’s busy weekend started Friday when he and his wife and three kids drove to Hixon to set up their overnight gear at Canyon Creek campground, he went back for his opening round match that night, played two more matches on Saturday, then had to face Tannert, the Prince George Open finalist in 2019, the most recent year the tournament was played.
The pandemic shut down organized soccer in 2020 and delayed the start of the season this year and LaFontaine went back to his old tennis habits. He signed his 10-year-old daughter Lucy up for lessons with local pro Cory Fleck and started playing again this year when his former doubles partner Tristan Pearce, the former Prince George club pro, moved back to the city after eight years living in Australia. Since the Prince George Soccer Association resumed play in June, he’s been playing midfield for Splash Media, one of the top Division 1 men’s teams in the city.
“I didn’t do anything during COVID and that’s what got me into tennis,” said Lafontaine. “I knew I had to get moving again and tennis is a great sport where you were actually allowed to play tennis. Soccer started up as well (in June) and that’s helped as well.”
LaFontaine strained a calf muscle in his opening match against Matt McMath and came out for the final wearing a compression bandage on his left leg. That seemed to do the trick because he wasn’t hobbled by his injury and Tannert had difficulty gaining momentum to ty to put away his opponent in the second set.
Tannert, 47, a wood construction engineering professor at UNBC, plays a similar style as Lafontaine, not overpowering with his shots but very consistent at finding the court with his returns, and that paid off in the initial stages of their match.
“I think our games are pretty similar, I think he was able to put a little more pressure on me and move in (towards the net) more often than I did, and I think that was the difference,” said Tannert. “I knew it was going to be a tough match and it was pretty even all throughout the first set and then I broke him and was able to hold serve, but there was not a single game that was an easy win.”
Tannert rebounded from a 2-0 deficit in the third set and the two were tied 3-3 when he had another opportunity to go up a break, leading 40-love, but missed his chances to put it away and Lafontaine jumped ahead 4-3 in the deciding set. LaFontaine set up his win in the next game with a well-placed lob that brought on a deuce and Tannert then hit into the net with a backhander and double-faulted to drop to a 5-3 deficit. Lafontaine then held serve to close it out.
“I double-faulted a couple of times,” said Tannert. “When you’re not in the zone anymore then everything distracts you. I think the main issue was I couldn’t develop enough pressure off my forehand. I thought if I was pressuring him then I had the upside but I wasn’t able to do that consistently.
“He has an amazing touch; I don’t think I’ve played anyone who has such a nice touch and was playing these amazing stops all the time.”
To get to the final, LaFontaine defeated Shawn Hegan, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3, while Tannert topped Pearce, 6-1, 6-3 to advance to the final.
The Altizer trophy has been awarded to the Prince George Open advanced singles champion since 2014, named in honour of Matt, the former Prince George Citizen information technology manager, who died along with his wife, son, daughter and sister in a February 2012 highway accident near McLeese Lake while traveling to the Davis Cup pro tennis tournament in Vancouver.
Fleck and Michal Latala teamed up in Sunday’s doubles final to defeat Hegan and Fara Kashanchi, 3-6, 6-3-6-4.
Owen Thomson defeated Sean Margison in the singles consolation final, 6-4, 6-1.
Pickleball tournament results were as follows: Mixed doubles - Jeany de Witt/Riaan de Witt (both of Terrace) defeated Denise Wellband (Quesnel/Dave Stewart (Prince George), 11-6, 6-11, 11-10; Men’s doubles - Jordan Booth/Callum Catto (both of Quesnel) beat Stacy Sneader/Joe Morgan (both of Kitimat), 11-3, 11-8; Women’s doubles champions - Jen Hidber (Terrace)/Jeany de Witt topped Carmella Aquino/Sherry Jasper (both of Quesnel), 11-6, 11-3.
