Queen’s Tennis is entering the season with the strongest foundation it has had since returning to campus as an official Gaels program.
Before that return, tennis at Queen’s still existed through a student-led competitive group. Players trained and competed, but the team did not have the same varsity structure, coaching support, athletics roster, and formal presence that it has now.
Owen Dunn, Comm ’26, helped push for that change after beginning the idea as a Commerce class project in spring 2023. Dunn, who had played competitive tennis since childhood, later worked with the Kingston Racquet Centre and members of the recreational travel team before Queen’s later approved tennis for its first official varsity season for 2024-25.
Now, the Gaels have Tony Roth as head coach, Kamaksh Dave as assistant coach, and a roster coming off one of the program’s strongest seasons since returning to varsity competition.
Last year, Queen’s Women’s Tennis earned silver at the OUA Championships, while the men’s team earned bronze. Roth, who is also the head pro coach at the Kingston Racquet Centre, said this year’s team has a strong returning group.
In an interview with The Journal, Roth talked about the level of talent on the team.
“Last year we carried 12 people because we had so many good tennis players,” Roth said. “Normally we would look for maybe a roster of 10 or so.”
Roth said 11 of those 12 players returned this season, with a few new players joining the roster.
“It’s a great roster and they’re all so keen and great as a group,” Roth said.
The women’s team opened this year’s competitive schedule on Sept. 13 against Western University after Roth said the matchup came together earlier than expected.
“We jumped at the chance because Queen’s and Western is always a great matchup,” he said.
The Gaels were victorious, winning the team matchup 6-1, but Roth said the score did not show how close the matches were. Across the individual matches, he said eight tiebreakers were played.
“When it got down to the really important moments, our players came through and performed extremely well,” Roth said.
The first season of the team relied heavily on students. Without a head coach, players helped organize tryouts, practices, travel, and fundraising.
The 2025-26 season brought a different structure, with Roth stepping in as head coach and Dave joining as assistant coach. The team also raised more than $11,000 through Giving Day, according to the team’s Instagram post.
For Roth, one of the biggest parts of the program’s growth is how players have adjusted to tennis in a team environment.
“Tennis can be sometimes a bit of a lonely sport,” Roth said. “It’s a lot of singles play and building of rankings and profiles.”
Roth said varsity tennis gives players the individual competition of the sport while also letting them represent a team.
“Once people get an opportunity to play in a setting like Queen’s OUA or NCAA, or even on the pro levels when they get to play and represent Canada and play as a team, almost everybody just loves that,” he said.
That team structure has also depended on leadership from returning players.
Roth said captains Ben Chernin, HealthSci ’29, and Karina Gadjanov, Comm ’29, have helped newer players adjust to the team, university life, and the expectations that come with OUA competition.
“I know that the captains become people that sometimes the players will go to just to ask questions on how they balance their studies and the sport,” Roth said.
As the season continues, Roth said the challenge will be keeping players healthy while still improving during a short competitive schedule.
“It’s tough when you’re trying to make improvements during a competitive season,” he said. “But these are such good players, and they’re so determined that we’ll succeed.”
Queen’s will continue its season Saturday at the Kingston Racquet Centre, where Roth said the Gaels are scheduled to host Ottawa at 12:30 p.m.
“We love when people show up to watch and cheer,” Roth said. “It changes the atmosphere.”
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