Like the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Canada, the Festival d’été de Québec and the Francos de Montréal, the National Bank Open has become an unmissable summer event in Quebec. Its repercussions are considerable and even a little underestimated.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
“I think it’s become a given,” said Andréanne Martin, CEO of Tennis Quebec.
Although Tennis Canada organizes and manages the National Bank Open, Tennis Quebec is well aware of the powers of the tournament and the ramifications of the event on Quebec tennis.
The best
Like spring, the National Bank Open, formerly known as the Rogers Cup, returns every year. It is anything but trivial.
Every summer, Montreal welcomes the best tennis players (or players, depending on the year) of the planet in a 1000 category tournament. The most important category of tournament after the major tournaments. They are nine in number on the ATP calendar.
Montreal is therefore one of the privileged cities to have the opportunity to host a tournament of this magnitude and which attracts the crème de la crème. Like Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome and Shanghai.
Especially since the Montreal tournament is the most important of all in anticipation of the United States Open in September. In this North American sequence, it is in Canada that the players want to stop in order to be able to prepare optimally and to be able to compare themselves with their rivals after the season on grass.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Andréanne Martin, General Manager of Tennis Quebec
I’m not sure they [les Québécois] are aware of it. I’m also not sure they understand all the repercussions of having an event like that.
Andréanne Martin, General Manager of Tennis Quebec
Beyond the prestige of the event, the many ramifications of the tournament greatly help the development of young players here, because the profits generated during this pivotal week are reinvested in the future of the sport.
The National Bank Open helps maintain the proper functioning of the National Training Center and also greatly helps the various provincial associations such as Tennis Quebec.
“This tournament has big ramifications and financially, it is extremely important for the development of Quebec and Canadian tennis,” added the CEO of Tennis Quebec.
A direct effect
Even if it is not the provincial federation that is behind the presentation of the Omnium Banque Nationale de Montréal, the week of the Omnium is always extremely busy for Tennis Québec.
On the one hand, dozens of clubs from across Quebec are invited to see the best players in the world at work on center court and elsewhere in Jarry Park. It also allows clubs to get closer to the federation that oversees them.
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, PRESS ARCHIVES
Every summer, Montreal welcomes the best tennis players on the planet.
On the other hand, it is also a golden opportunity to receive on site sponsors, government partners and collaborators so that they can witness the best of tennis in the province.
“I’m not stressed, but it’s sure to be a demanding week,” said Andréanne Martin.
The visibility offered by the event is not only beneficial for the federation, but also for the health of Quebec tennis.
Andréanne Martin is unequivocal. Performances like that of Denis Shapovalov against Rafael Nadal in 2017 change things in a concrete way. Ditto if Félix Auger-Aliassime has a great performance in a few weeks. The repercussions would be immense.
PHOTO ERIC BOLTE, USA TODAY SPORTS ARCHIVES
Spaniard Rafael Nadal and Canadian Denis Shapovalov in Montreal in August 2017
The situation would be much the same if Bianca Andreescu or Leylah Annie Fernandez were to go far to the Toronto leg of the Open.
“When there are performances like that, there is a direct consequence and a convincing enthusiasm for tennis. It’s incredible. »
These victories not only bring people together in front of their television or at the IGA stadium, but they also increase the interest of the general public in tennis and, above all, they encourage young girls and young boys to pick up a racquet and go hitting. balls. Because that’s also and above all what idols are for.