Daily Press file photo Marquette’s Brett Girard returns a serve late in the third set of the Men’s A championship match against three-time U.P. high school No. 1 singles champion Alec Olivier of Marquette in the 71st annual Michigan-Wisconsin Tennis Open last summer in Escanaba. The 72nd edition of the tournament will be held this weekend at Ludington Park.

ESCANABA — An annual local tradition is getting ready to kick off. The Michigan-Wisconsin Tennis Open will be held for the 72nd time in Escanaba’s Ludington Park this weekend.

The tournament is for men and women all of ages, singles and doubles. All singles matches will be played Saturday and all doubles matches will be played Sunday.

With over 70 years of history, it’s easy to see how the event has woven itself into the fabric of the area and people’s lives.

Last year’s class A singles men’s champion and holder of multiple titles from the tournament, Brett Girard of Marquette, has been making time every summer for over 20 years to participate. Escanaba boys’ tennis coach Tom Penegor, a former tournament organizer, also participated last year in a three-hour and 45 minute marathon match to finish off the day.

The tournament can often have a far reach. The name Michigan-Wisconsin was decided upon purely due to the people it was able to draw. Players from the Upper Peninsula, lower Michigan and Wisconsin have always turned out in large numbers. 2017’s tournament even saw Mario Tabares enter and win class A men’s singles. Tabares is originally from Cuba but resides in Miami, Fl., and played in 16 Davis Cup events from the late 80s to the mid-90s. His career-high ranking in doubles was 106 in 1993.

Several past winners and participants have been NCAA Division I players as well.

“I think one of the things that make the tournament successful is the location,” Penegor said. “We’re centrally located, we’re on Lake Michigan and we have some nice facilities. Ludington Park is one of the nicest places to play in the Upper Peninsula. We really have a jewel in Ludington Park.”

The event is traditionally paired with another staple of Escanaba, Art in the Park. The art exhibition will be held again this year over the weekend while the tournament is going on.

“All these different vendors bring down hundreds or thousands of people to the event, and along with the tennis tournament going on at the same time, it’s a nice draw for the community,” Penegor said. “You have all that going for you to make it successful.”

Unfortunately, the tournament has seen a downturn in participants in recent years. Whereas even 10 years ago, entrants could number in the hundreds, recent turnouts have simply been around 100.

“I think every sport has its natural peaks and valleys,” Penegor said.

Despite the impedance of a decline of national interest in the sport, the tournament perseveres mainly because the event has built itself up into a bastion of tradition and embedded itself in the lives of players and locals.

This tennis institution’s proceeds benefit the Escanaba tennis program. It continues with the hope that it can introduce and push a younger generation toward the cultivation of a love of the sport so that it can continue to add to its storied history for many years to come.