Kylar coming home for National Bank Challenger

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This article was published 06/07/2016 (3679 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Some of the world’s top tennis players have descended on Fort Garry for the National Bank Challenger tournament.

The international tournament kicks off at the Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club (761 North Dr.) on July 9 with the women’s and men’s qualifying matches and runs until July 17.

Among the competition, which features pros Bjorn Fratangelo (ranked 112 worldwide) and Julia Glushko (ranked 135 worldwide), is Richmond West’s Kevin Kylar.

Kylar, 21, is Manitoba’s top-ranked professional tennis player and the only Manitoban in decades to earn an Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) point. He is coached by his dad, George Kylar, a longtime member of the tennis community in Manitoba.

Kylar received a wildcard into the qualifying matches and is hoping to make it to the main draw where a $75,000 prize is up for grabs.

“The ultimate dream would be to qualify for the main draw,” Kylar said. “I’ve never done that before and it would be great to do that on home soil.”

Kylar earned his first ATP point in 2014 during the Manshield Futures tournament also held at the Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club. This is the first year the club will host the men’s Challenger (second tier) tournament, one level above Futures.

“I’m obviously happy that they’re having the tournament again in Winnipeg,” Kylar said. “I get to play in front of my friends and family which is great, and my dad was one of the first guys who brought the Futures tournament to Winnipeg and now to see it grow into a Challenger, I know was always one of his goals.”

Kylar started playing tennis at age 10 and today is part of the ATP World Tour where he is currently ranked 1,614. Playing on the tour at the Futures level has taken him across the globe and he hits about 20 tournaments a year, or about two a month.

“It’s difficult and there’s a lot of ups and downs. You obviously lose more than you win but it’s good, it’s a lot of fun and you’re playing tennis year round and the tour follows the sun,” he said. “For a boy from Winnipeg it’s very good.”

Currently, Kylar is working to defend his two ATP points and break into the top 1,000 of the world rankings and keep climbing. With a better ranking, Kylar said it would be easier to get into higher level tournaments and seeded in more events, making ATP points more accessible.

“You’ve got to keep working hard and you need a little bit of luck. You’ve got to win some big matches and you can jump up pretty quickly if you can go deep in one or two tournaments,” he explained.

Tickets for the National Bank Challenger are $5 for a day pass or $25 for a week pass. For more information go to www.challengerbanquenationale.com/en or call 204-799-2224.