Tennis Canada To Play ATP Exhibition During WTA Premier Event

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 24th June 2013

Tennis Canada To Play ATP Exhibition During WTA Premier Event |

In a bit of a surprise, Tennis Canada announced the addition of a men s invitational to the 2013 Rogers Cup women’s event in Toronto.

This first of its kind event will bring three current players from Montreal’s ATP matches. Among the players selected will be the highest-ranked competitors who are defeated in the first round of the Rogers Cup tournament in Montreal, which is held during the same week.

“This unique event builds off of the virtually combined concept that we introduced two years ago when our two tournaments were moved to the same week,” said Michael Downey, president and CEO, Tennis Canada. Up to this point, we’ve done everything short of having players from both Tours in the same city to ensure our fans feel connected to the events happening simultaneously in Montreal and Toronto. Now, we are going that extra mile and are giving fans in Toronto a chance to see players from both tournaments in the flesh.

There are few, if any, examples of this happening with current ATP players during a standalone WTA Premier event, suggesting that perhaps Tennis Canada does not feel that the WTA players are capable of bringing in enough fans.

The men s invitational will be combined with the already announced return of Rogers Legends Cup, which will feature former No. 1 players Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Andy Roddick and Jim Courier. Two of the three current players who travel to Toronto will face-off against each other during the evening session on Thursday, August 8. The third current pro will help lead the tournament into the final weekend by taking on the recently retired Roddick on Friday night as part of Rogers Legends Cup. The Legends matches will continue through the weekend with McEnroe playing Sampras on Saturday evening and Courier battling with McEnroe prior to the WTA final on Sunday, August 11. All exhibition matches will be played alongside the stars of the WTA and are included in the regular Rogers Cup session ticket.

The players selected to participate in the men s invitational will be revealed to the fans and media on-site in Montreal and Toronto on Wednesday, August 7. This year’s men’s invitational will serve as a test event for potential expansion in future years.

Rogers Cup will take place August 3-11, 2013 at Rexall Centre on York University campus in Toronto and from August 2-11, 2013 at Uniprix Stadium in Montreal.