I completed the Canadian tennis doubles this yr in a day on the Omnium Banque Nationale in Montréal. We had tickets for Thursday to see the third spherical sport. Sadly our day was reduce quick by rain nevertheless it was nonetheless vital to catch some stay tennis on the new match. I hope this put up will be of use to anybody contemplating a visit to tennis in Montreal.
Shopping for tickets
Tickets for the 2023 Montreal match had been already on sale in December 2022 once we began planning the journey. It was simple to search out seats though one of the best ones near the court docket weren’t obtainable. Montreal appears to be a extra fashionable occasion than Toronto. In 2023, 220,000 folks attended the match in Montreal in comparison with 175,000 in Toronto. Tickets at the moment are obtainable for the 2024 version of the Omnium Banque Nationale.
The principle stadium known as Stade IGA and has three sections: 100 (decrease part), 200 (center part) and 300 (higher part). Like Toronto, there are a number of pricing choices relying on how shut you’re to the court docket. We searched all of the completely different choices to search out one of the best trade-off between value and proximity to the court docket. Within the stadium there are seats that do not let the solar out – in order for you shade go a couple of rows behind the round stands behind the gamers (sections 216 to 222). Part 218 and Row T are undoubtedly within the shade early within the day!
When shopping for tickets, it is advisable to create an account on the web site. You should use the identical data on your Omnium Banque Nationale account when you’ve got an account with Ticketmaster Canada. We had no issues shopping for tickets on-line. We paid $198 CAD for a pair of tickets (about £120).
After our day session was reduce quick by rain, we considered shopping for the Friday night time session because the match supplied us a 50% low cost. When the prospect of a Kvitova-Sabalenka quarter-final ended I gave up on that concept. I’m very joyful as a result of we had been searching for tickets for the night time session that ended at 3am within the morning 😂.
To and from the place
Stade IGA is positioned in Jarry Park in Montreal. We used the Société de Transport de Montréal (STM) which is the metro. We had been in Montreal for 3 days so we purchased a 3-day All-way A card for $21.25 CAD. It was good for us as the cardboard may very well be used for the bus that runs between Downtown Montreal and the airport. We stayed close to Outdated Montréal so we took the metro from Champ-de-Mars to Jarry on the Orange line. This took about quarter-hour. There are a number of metro stations for tennis and De Castelnau on the blue line is shut by.
Montreal Metro Map (Supply:
We arrived early within the morning and obtained off at Jarry and walked to the world. It was a pleasant stroll by means of the quiet streets of Jarry with boulangeries on many corners and thru the park. The Montreal match provides you free journey on the STM metro with a ticket for each spherical journeys to the tennis court docket. We had already purchased a journey card so we did not verify this out.
Coming into the premises and what to take
There are three entrances to the bottom ground. We approached from Jarry so we entered the North Gate (Entree Nord). One other distinction with Toronto is that the stadiums in Montreal open at 10:30am, not 10am. This can be a disgrace and appears too late when the sport on the surface courts begins at 11am. We arrived early and there was already a small line forming. The volunteers had been pleasant and talked to everybody. They opened the gates at 10:25 am and it took simply 5 minutes to get by means of safety.
You’re allowed to take a small rucksack to the venue. My digicam was examined (it is an 18-200mm lens) nevertheless it was positive. We additionally took snacks. I forgot to take the water out of my drink bottle. They did not say something good. I’ve discovered at many tournaments that it is loads much less spirited than it says on its web site – I believe it is to try to cease folks bringing foods and drinks so you’ll be able to spend extra money on the grounds!
Courts
A map of the grounds and the placement of all of the courts will be discovered right here on the Montreal web site.
IGA Gallery
It was a extremely nice second once we entered the stadium for the primary time. Stade IGA seats 11,815 and is a ravishing stadium. Nonetheless, IGA is a grocery store in Canada that I did not see till we entered Montreal! We entered the sector earlier than the primary sport as we’ve got seen Coco Gauff in coaching classes. I hadn’t seen Coco stay earlier than after she tried to keep away from me in Eastbourne this yr 😂. I am so joyful to lastly tick Coco off my stay listing. You continue to have not seen him play a match!
Our seats had been within the round stand behind the court docket in part 218 and row T. The overall view was nice. It was not good to {photograph} folks’s heads in the best way and the glass screens that lined the middle stage. Leg room was higher than the Toronto however the seats had been uncomfortable. They screamed each time you awoke!
I used to be all the time fascinated by the environment of watching a match on TV. I used to be upset that the stadium was not full firstly of the primary match between Iga Swiatek and Karolina Muchova. I am undecided if this was due to the approaching rain? Swiatek-Muchova didn’t stay as much as my expectations. This was self-inflicted as a result of my expectations had been skyyyyy highhh after their French Open last earlier this yr. There wasn’t a lot for the group to sink their tooth into to lighten the environment a bit. I really feel like I’ve unfinished enterprise with Stade IGA as I’ve seen half the sport!
Rogers Courtroom
The second court docket in Montreal is far bigger than the Grandstand court docket in Toronto. It has a decrease container with tickets and an higher container that may be accessed by everybody on the stadiums. There are stairs main as much as the 2 higher stairs. There’s a good view of all of the grounds from the highest earlier than coming into the court docket.
There isn’t a safety so you’ll be able to transfer round in order for you which will be annoying if folks come up in the course of the factors. Once more, the seats collide while you arise so you’ll be able to’t get in peacefully! The higher stage is steep and I really like the view you get to look at the tennis. We had an ideal view backstage watching the primary match of the day between Jessica Pegula and Jasmine Paolini.
I outdoors the courts
Courts 5 by means of 11 are clustered north of Rogers Courtroom. Because the week has handed, we’ve got seen developments in these courts. We watched Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok heat up collectively on the three-sided Courtroom 5.
The out of doors courts are like a maze and ought to be enjoyable to run within the early days of the match. We watched Caroline Garcia (who had already been eradicated from the match) follow on the eighth court docket. There was a viewing platform from which you may watch. The image beneath is the closest you will get to the eighth court docket.
Apply courts
There are three follow courts west of Rogers Courtroom. The match has executed an ideal job of updating follow court docket schedules repeatedly on the match app and web site. We knew that Iga Swiatek was coaching at 10:30 within the morning on court docket 2 so we went straight there.
There are three rows of benches to look at on one facet of court docket 2. Entrance row view to view the world premiere – you could not ask for higher entry than that! This was one of many highlights of the day seeing Iga up shut. I used to be stunned how exhausting he was hitting however he made a couple of errors.
Places and services
I actually favored the place in Montreal, greater than Toronto. It felt like there was fixed noise because the place centered round a big stadium. The Wi-Fi on the grounds was respectable and higher than something we have had in British resorts. It seemed brighter than in Toronto and did not work nicely on one facet of the Stade Iga.
There have been water bottle refill stations dotted across the grounds – the water strain was higher than in Toronto! There have been many bogs within the premises however they had been all very small. We left the Stade IGA throughout a rain delay so there have been clearly extra queues presently.
There’s a seating space with deck chairs in the course of the court docket the place they’ve a giant display exhibiting tennis in Toronto. This helped cross the time when it rained.
Meals and drinks
We had been a lot better ready than in Toronto so we introduced our personal sandwiches to the competitors. That is less expensive than shopping for one thing on website. When the rain has come and we all know it will not cease, alcohol is the one solution to take care of the frustration. We purchased cocktails from the drinks stand within the north station of the Stade IGA.
The match’s official cocktail is the Dragon Cocktail with Soiled Satan vodka, lemonade, pink grapefruit juice, dragon fruit syrup and soda. We additionally tried the Montréal ardour fruit mule with Soiled Satan vodka, ardour fruit juice and ginger beer. Each are superb and had been $13 CAD every. We stored the cups – it will have been good in the event that they had been labeled for the match (I nonetheless love my US Open Honey Deuce cup from 7 years in the past). Nonetheless, a pleasant reminder from the match.
Procuring
We had been going into a big retailer known as Tennis Large when it was raining, which had a variety of tennis gear. We discovered a match stall close to Entree Gary-Carter et Status the place every part was behind the counter. I in all probability would have purchased a cap if I may have watched it at my leisure however time handed!
Ultimate ideas
Grateful that we obtained to see stay volleyball in a ravishing stadium – I needed extra! Nice competitors. If you need to select between Montreal and Toronto, I might undoubtedly go to Montreal. The 2023 match will likely be remembered for rain and poor group. My lasting reminiscence will likely be taking him to the prepare station in our ponchos within the pouring rain 😂.
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