The 46th edition of the Litchfield Watercade Tennis Tournament was hotter than ever!

For the first time in tournament history, the Watercade Tennis Tournament stretched over four days and featured 48 junior players and 80 adult competitors. Watercade kicked off with Boys’ and Girls’ 18U Singles on Thursday, followed by the Boys’ and Girls’ 15U divisions on Friday, before the adult events began Friday evening and continued through Sunday.

Leading up to the event, half of the newly completed high school courts were still under repair, forcing registration to close early because of uncertainty over how many courts would be available. Fortunately, the work was completed just in time, and the courts played beautifully throughout the weekend.

In recent years, players have enjoyed unusually cool weather for what is typically the hottest week of the summer. This year was a different story. Temperatures soared throughout the weekend, and the competition on the courts was every bit as intense as the summer heat.  The match of the tournament may have been the Men’s Open Doubles Final in which defending champion Josh Prahl (Litchfield native) with a new doubles partner – Jared Saue (a long time Watercade participant and now coach at Sartell) battled Aaron Zoubek and Carter Fellows through tense tie-breakers in the first two sets before a 3rd set super tie break determined the champion with Zoubek and Fellows coming out on top 6-7(2), 7-6(4), 10-8.  Many other matches in the tournament had to be decided with 3rd set super tie breaks illustrating the not only the high level of play, but the evenly matched participants in the tournament.

What truly makes Watercade special, though, is that so much of the talent is homegrown—right here in Litchfield and the surrounding communities. On the boys’ and men’s side alone, the tournament featured 10 former Dragon players, 8 current Dragon players, 1 future Dragon player, and 1 Dragon coach. The girls’ and women’s divisions were equally well represented by current and former members of the Litchfield Girls’ Tennis program, continuing a tradition of strong hometown participation.

As we do after every tournament, we’ll take time to reflect on what went well and where we can improve — always striving to create the best possible experience for everyone. But truly, it’s what you bring to the tournament that makes it so special.

With that, we close the book on another memorable year of Watercade tennis. We wish you good health and good fortune in the year ahead, and thank you for choosing to spend your time with us at the 46th Litchfield Watercade Tennis Tournament.

Mark your calendars for next year’s tournament: July 8–11, 2027!