image

I went to the National Bank Open presented by Rogers tennis event at Jarry park this past week.

TL;DR - I quite enjoyed it, next year perhaps fewer sessions better seats; pay attention to where the sun is, some great matches.

Now for the rather lengthy version.

Monday, August 8. My brother, his wife and I were supposed to attend together, however, he and his wife caught Covid and so postponed their trip from Valencia (where they live) and so G-Bot and I went. We caught the first 97% of the Denis Shapovalov vs Alex De Minaur match when it was interrupted with rain. Alex won the first set 7-5 and Denis forced a tie-break, and they were tied at 3-3 in the tie-break when the game was called on account of rain. We were in seats 228E10-11; pretty good; didn't have to contend with sun as it was overcast.

Tuesday, August 9. Before I left the house the forecast said light rain, ending in the morning, however, when I got there it was still drizzling. The first match was supposed to start at 11h, then 11h30, and by about noon we had this:

A bunch of industrial blower machines that could be rolled around the court, which was done very slowly so as to allow the blowers to do their work. By about 12h20 the first match started, it was Tommy Paul vs Vasek Pospisil. There was a French speaking couple to the left of me with the woman adjacent to me who had very frequent emotional outbursts as the match went on after almost each point. This was the first of many 'ooh la la's that I heard over my time at the NBO.

Here is Vasek:

And here is Tommy Paul:

Tommy Paul won 6-4, 6-4, knocking out the first Canadian player of the day.

Next was Grigor Dimitrov vs Alexis Galarneau with Dimitrov winning 6-5, 7-5.

Then was the conclusion between Shapo and de Minaur to conclude the tie-break of the match that had started the previous day. On three sides of the court on Centre Court there is a closed in section behind the 200 level and underneath the 300 level that is sold as 'Salons Privés' where groups can book a lounge room with one or two rows of seats in the stadium and a closed in room behind. Inside these lounges these groups were likely alcoholized and were making lots of noise. The umpire during this match tried to get them to quiet down, to no effect. Alex won the tie breaker so Shapo is now out of the tournament.

Then the last match of the afternoon session was Nick Kyrgios vs Sebastian Baez, both shown in this photo whose real intent was to show how overcast it was.

I exited the stadium as the afternoon session ended and then re-entered for the evening session. Taylor Fritz vs Andy Murray and France umpire who calls out noise makers from behind my 200 level sections, only they aren't here for the tennis, there here to drink and be merry in their salons privés and there's no way to get them to be quiet. I moved from seat 224F6 (afternoon session) to 223A16 (evening session), with a much improved seat. Fritz was way overpowering Murray. To my left, French speaking couple with woman next to me who arrived after me but before match started. To my right, mother and daughter where daughter in early 20s and is the one next to me, is big, not like belly but in bone structure, tall and wide. These two only arrived at the first break of play after the match had started. The audience was significantly behind Murray, it was too bad this vocal support didn't help him, he lost the first set 6-1 and the match 6-1, 6-3.

The second evening match was Hubert Hurkacz vs Emil Ruusuvuori and what was nice about this is that quite a lot of people left after the first evening match, so the announcer announced that people up in the 300s could descend and take any available seat. The people on my left had left after the first match, the two on my right, once they heard this announcement, dashed down to be in the 100 section, so then I did the same. For a short while I was in the third row from the court where I filmed:

Here's Hubert:

And here's Emil:

Then I noticed that there were a few seats open in the very first row, so I moved closer. In this front row there are some benefits; there are charging cables with various tips to match various devices, and there are small blue coolers within which these front row guests can just take any drink they'd like.

In the photo above, just ahead of the leg closest to us of the guy closest to us you can see the end of the blue cooler of which there is one about every four seats.

There are 12 ball kids assigned to each court with six on at a time while the other six are on break. They do a lap around the court when they switch, which, as I was so close, I managed to capture.

Hubert ended up winning this match, though he lost a few match points in the second set, 6-3, 6-7, 6-2. Once the third set started I was a little concerned that the match might end past the last 211 bus to take me home, however, the match ended up finishing at about 23h11 which made it no problem getting home.

Wednesday, August 10. The weather was much better today, and also, instead of being on Centre Court I was in the adjacent Rogers Court which is a smaller venue and also has us closer to the players. I was in seat 117F15 and for most of the first set there wasn't anyone left or right of me, ahead or behind me. Near the end of this set some people came in who were to the right of me. The first game was Casper Ruud vs Alex Molcan which you can kind of see in this photo:

At 11h, in section 117 sun was high above at 2 o'clock and by 12h30 about directly above at 3. High thin cloud allowed diffuse sunlight down, at other moments full sun and at others lower full clouds gave full shade. At moments, some cool breezes would waft through which made it pleasant. Alex forced a tie break in the first set, but Casper won the match 7-6, 6-3.

Next was Jannik Sinner vs Adrian Mannarino. Jannik was fully expected to win this match so it came as a surprise to all of us that he dropped the first set 6-2.  Adrian managed to dig many difficult Jannik shots and put them back into play. At 14h, sun at 4. The stadium at this time was maybe 70% full where for first game it was less than half occupied. This was the second match I attended that went to a third set. 15h, sun at 5, but fortunately there's been more cloud time than sun time. Lucked out that the seat I picked has elevated stands above and behind which will soon block the sun. Sinner won in three sets, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Next match was Gael Monfils vs Maxime Cressy.  Gael was super fast and ready to serve at just about the time the umpire started the serve clock, every time. The crowd was in huge support of Gael (from France) but Max was winning the first by 5-3 at one point. They got what they wished for with an epic tie breaker with Gael on top. Second set also went to tie break and Gael won, 7-6, 7-6.

Here's Max:

And here's Gael:

As this match took a long time, plus there was a three setter earlier, the fourth game of the day session became the first game of the night session according to the volunteers in section 117. So I moved over to section 106, for my evening session seat, so as not to miss the next match. The volunteers there did not know that we had to be moved from day session to evening session seats and wouldn't let me in, but I convinced them I had to go in and made it to my seat (106D6). 

This next match was Cam Norrie vs Botic van de Zandschulp. I had the Sun in my face as it was low at this time, but it got lower quickly and got out of my face.

Cam made quick work winning the first set 6-1 in 27 minutes, one thing he did numerous times was let serves. Botic missed past the baseline very often with the occasional misses outside left or right bounds, this is why Cam went quickly through him. Botic put up more of a fight but still Cam won second set 6-2 with match time 66 minutes.

The sky was giving us a glorious cloud show that night.

The next match was Daniel Evans vs Andrey Rublev, high quality playing in this one, great powerful shots from both players. Dan took first set 6-4. Dan takes almost all of the serve clock almost all of the time. Rublev very emotionally angry, bashing his racket when he was broken at start of second set.

Here's Dan:

And here's Andrey:

Dan ended up winning 6-4, 6-4.

There was a doubles game on Rogers Court afterwards with two Canadians against two Italians; I stayed only for the first three games as I was getting cold and felt I had had enough tennis for the day.

Thursday, August 11. Good weather again today though there was forecast a chance of a thunderstorm in the mid-afternoon. My afternoon and evening sessions were both in Centre Court again, with the afternoon session starting in seat 212H7.

My seat is just a few rows away from the noisy section that is behind the 200 sections. Roberto Bautista Agut vs Casper Ruud. Roberto seems to be a better player but Casper is keeping up so far in first set. as in this seat I was pretty far, this is the best I could do:

That's Casper on the right side and Roberto on the left side.

A very big man sat to my right, big enough to spill over. The VBM to my right has an older gentleman friend to his right, they are together. It isn't clear at all how they know each other as they seem to be a generation apart. They are English speaking and talking continuously, overhearing them I come to understand that the VBM is a financial advisor and the older mine is his client. There is a mix of sun and clouds, when sunny it is very hot, when cloudy, very pleasant. Just doesn't seem like Casper believes he can win, his body language looks despondent, though he has moments of play brilliance. After losing first set in tie break, Casper took an extended bathroom break, came out in second set playing better and more motivated, but still dead even with Roberto. Casper won the tie break in second set. During the tie break, at around 14h30, sporadic rain drops at low frequency but continuous for perhaps 5 minutes. Sky is ominous, but serious rain has held off, so far. 

About five minutes later it started to rain seriously and then heavily and then down poured. The match was suspended and my recently purchased poncho held up well. Behind the rain the sun came out full force with the next clouds in the distance perhaps an hour away. 

And here they are drying the court, with the help this time of the sun evaporating some of the water:

Sitting in section 212 the sun was ahead of me and started to drop, by 15h25 it had sunk low enough that my cap was no longer long enough to protect my nose with head level straight. Arg!!! Casper ended up winning with 6-4 in third set after a marathon match that had a rain delay. The second match between the two Australians (Nick Kyrgios and Alex de Minaur) that we were supposed to see was moved to Rogers Court since this first match took over four hours including the delay. So the next match became Felix Auger-Aliassime vs Cameron Norrie. The two seats to my left were empty for the duration of the first match, so part way through I moved left one seat to give me space away from VBM, after the match ended, the seat owners arrived with yet another VBM now on my left. As it is the Felix match, I expect the stadium will get full. Felix won the first set 6-3, pretty handily. At about 17h15 the sun cleared the last cloud and the sky has cleared, so now full sun in face until it lowers below opposite stands. I'll make sure next year to get day session in 22x section who have been in shade already for quite some time. 

Felix is on the right, Cam on the left:

Where VBM#1 sat last match, a new young couple sat in their place with the woman next to me. Also, a really nicely dressed and nice looking young woman in the row just ahead of her started talking with this couple having lots of fun. At one point she to my right says (in French) "okay, double fault", then Cam does exactly that, I look at her and she looks at me. It was nice of her to include me like that. 

Felix won the match 6-3, 6-4.

We all had to exit the stadium which gave me a break from the sun, while waiting I bought and ate an ice cream. Next and penultimate match I attended was Jack Draper vs Gael Monfils. Draper pulled ahead 5-1 fairly quickly, part of that quickness is, of course, due to Gael's speed of service. To my left, a young couple with slight woman next to me and large scruffy bearded man with her. To my right an older couple. Fortunately no VBM.

For this evening session, like others before, not everyone was in at the match start. While they play, volunteers (whose purpose it is) close a gate to prevent attendees from entering while the match is ongoing. After the first three points of a set there is a 90 second break, after each two points thereafter, 90 second break, at set end, 120 second break. So during those breaks, people can come in or go out. During the first three or four breaks, after the start of the match, people queue up at the gate as they want to get in, and so reams of people enter after the first three points and then more at next break. Often this causes the umpire to call out that people should take whatever nearest seat they can so as to have everyone seated for play to start. 

Draper won first set 6-2. This evening session appears to be the most full I've ever seen it, hard to see empty seats, though there are some if you look carefully.

Very very sad, Gael was having an early lead in second set, up 2-0 but in third game, I didn't see what happened, but the immediate aftermath he fell to the ground in clear pain, perhaps an ankle, or acute muscle strain, they brought a wheelchair out for him but instead of taking it, he hobbled to and sat on his bench. He went out on the court, conferred with his team in the stands, didn't pick up the ball, approached the net where Draper joined him, so Draper won by default.

The last match was Jannik Sinner vs Pablo Carreno Busta. Weather said it was currently 22c and will drop to 19c in next two hours. With the wind hitting me I was feeling cold after having experienced the direct sunlight earlier in the day. It was not certain that I'd stay to the end of this match; didn't look like there would be an opportunity to move closer like Tuesday night, probably because the first evening match was truncated. I left after first three points, didn't figure to be cold for no legitimate reason. Pablo beat Jannik 6-2, 6-4.

As I was so involved in all of these matches, I wanted to see how it would all progress into the final match on Sunday (today). The games are being televised on Sports Net to which I did not have a subscription, so I paid ~15$ for the first in a monthly plan that I will cancel after this tournament is over. This has allowed me to see all of the Quarterfinal and Semifinal matches, with the Finals (Hubert Hurkacz vs Pablo Carreno Busta) happening this afternoon.

There are public restrooms at ground level and at 300 level, but the ones at 200 level appear to be reserved for those Salons Privés people. The queue for the ground level restroom was always very long, snaking outside of the entry. So anytime I had to pee I'd sneak up to that 200 level using an exterior staircase and never had to wait at all. In fact, most of the time I did this, the restroom was devoid of people.

On Tuesday I made a couple of PB&J sandwiches that I ate during the day, and then bought food from the NBO later in the day. On Wednesday and Thursday I also bought food but did not bring any with me. It was quite expensive to buy the food there, but I figure it was easiest to do that.

Due to the late finish on Tuesday I felt quite knackered during the day session on Wednesday. So if I was to do this again, perhaps I'd do afternoon / evening day 1, only evening day 2, and then afternoon / evening day 3. And definitely for those day sessions, I would want to sit in the 22x sections.