This year I finished Canadian tennis double with Omnium Banque Nationale in Montreal. We had tickets for Thursday to watch the third round. Unfortunately, our day was shortened by rain, but it was still useful to soak up some lively tennis in the new tournament. I hope this post could be useful for anyone considering a trip to tennis in Montréal.
Purchase of tickets
Tickets for Montreal 2023 were already on sale in December 2022 when we started planning a trip. It was easy to find the seats, although the best close to the court was not available. Montreal seems to be a more popular event than Toronto. In 2023, 220,000 people took part in Montreal compared to 175,000 in Toronto. Tickets are already available for the Omnium Banque Nationale.
The main stadium is called Stade Iga and has three levels: 100 (lower layer), 200 (middle layer) and 300 (top layer). As in Toronto, depending on how close you are in court, there are a number of prices. We were looking for all different options to find the best compromise between the court’s price and proximity. In the main stadium there are some seats that are not in the sun-if you are looking for a shadow, then go to the rear rows of several rows in the shape of a circular shape behind the players (sections 216 to 222). Section 218 and Row T is definitely in the shade at the beginning of the day!
When buying tickets, you must create an account on the website. You can use the same credentials for your Omnium Banque Nationale account if you have an account at Ticketmaster Canada. We had no problems buying online tickets. For a few tickets we paid $ 198 (approximately 120 GBP).
After our daytime meeting was shortened by rain, we considered buying a night meeting on Friday because the tournament offered us a 50% discount. As soon as the prospect of the quarter-finals of Kvitov-Sabalenka faded, I gave up this idea. I am so glad we did it because we would go to the night show tickets that ended at 3:00 in the morning 😂.
To get to the place of the place of the proceedings
Stade Iga is located in Jarry Park in Montreal. We used the Société de Transport de Montreal (STM), which is a metro. We were in the Montréal for three days, so they bought a 3-day card for $ 21.25 CAD. It was perfect for us because the card could also be used for a bus that goes between the center of Montréal and the airport. We stayed near Old Montreal, so we took the metro from Champ-De-Mars to Jarry on the orange line. It took about 15 minutes. There are several metro stations for tennis and de Castelnau on the blue line is closer to the venue.
Montréal Metro Map (Source: https://www.stm.info/en/info/networks/metro)
We were early, so we got off at Jarra and walked to the venue. It was a nice walk on the quiet streets of Jarra with Boulangeries on most corners and then through the park. The Montreal tournament provides you freely traveling on the STM meter with a ticket to both roads to tennis. We’ve already bought Travelcard, so I didn’t test it.
Input to reason and what to take
There are three entrances to the ground. We were approaching Jarry’s direction, so we came to the North Entre Nord. One of the differences with Toronto is that the land in Montreal open at 10:30, not at 10:00. It is a pity and it seems to be late when the game in the external courts starts at 11:00. We arrived early and a small front was already formed. The volunteers were so friendly and talked to everything. They opened the gates at 10:25 and only took five minutes to go through safety.
You can take the venue to a small backpack. My camera was checked (it’s 18-200 mm lens), but it was okay. We also took some snacks. I forgot to empty the water from the bottle with drinks. They didn’t say anything and it was okay. For most tournaments, I found that they are more lenient than what they put on their website – I think it is to try and give people to bring food and drink, so you spend more money in the area!
The courts
Map of the area and the location of all courts can be found here on the Montreal website.
Everybody
It was a real moment of gentlemen when we first entered the stadium. Stade Iga sits 11,815 people and it is a beautiful stadium. By the way IgA is a supermarket in Canada, which I didn’t realize until we went to one in Montreal! We went to the stadium before the first match when Coco Gauff noticed in a training schedule. I never saw Coco lived before she went out of the way this year to avoid me in Eastbourne 😂. Very happy to finally uncheck Coco from my live list. But she still didn’t see her play the match!
Our seats were in a round stand behind the court in Section 218 and the line T. The general view was great. It was not ideal for taking pictures with people’s heads in the way and glass screens that lined the central hall. The foot room was better than in Toronto, but the seats were uncomfortable. Every time you get up, they were striking!
I’ve always been impressed by the atmosphere of watching TV matches. I was disappointed that the stadium was not full at the beginning of the first match between Iga Swiak against Karolina Muchov. I’m not sure it was due to the approaching rain? Swiak-Much did not meet my expectations. This was alone because of my expectations were Skyyyyy Highhh after their amazing French Open finals at the beginning of the year. The crowd wasn’t much to get into their teeth, so the atmosphere was a bit attenuated. I feel like I have an unfinished business saying that Stade Iga saw only half of the match!
Rogers’ court
The second court in Montreal is much larger than the tribune in Toronto. It has a lower bowl that is focused and the upper bowl to which everyone in the area has access. There are staircases that lead to two stands at the upper level. Before you go to court, there is a nice view of the land.
There is no safety so you can wander when you like what can be uncomfortable if people appear in the middle of the points. Again, the seats are striking when you stand up, so you can’t exactly enter the silence! The upper level is quite steep and I like the perspective you get for watching tennis. Behind the court we had a nice view of watching the first match of the day between Jessica Pegula and Jasmine Paolini.
The one external courts
The courts 5 to 11 are in the cluster north of the Rogers court. When we were later in the week, we only saw practices in these courts. We watched Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok warms up on the playground 5, which stands on three sides.
External courts are like a maze and must be fun when they rush around in the first days of the tournament. We watched how in court 8 we watched how Caroline Garcia (which was already removed from the tournament). The picture below is closest to what you could get to court 8.
Practical courts
To the west of Rogers’s court, there is a trio of practical courts. The tournament has done a great job with a regular update of practical court schedules in the tournament application and website. We knew that IgA Swiak was practicing at 10:30 in the morning in court 2, so we went straight there when we arrived.
On the one hand of court 2 are three rows of benches that can be tracked on the one hand of court 2. View of the front line to track the world number one – I can’t ask for better access! This was definitely one of the peaks of the day when I saw an IgA close up. I was amazed at how she was beating so aggressive, but she made so few mistakes.
Land and equipment
I really liked the venue in Montreal, more than Toronto. It was as if there was more sound around the main stadium. Wi-Fi on the area was decent and better than anything we had ever had in British tournaments. It was a little more spotted than in Toronto, and on one side of the Stade Iga it didn’t work so well.
Around the area were water stations to fill water bottles. The water pressure was better than in Toronto! There were many toilets around the area, but they were all very small. We came out of the IgA stade during the rain delay, so there were, of course, a lot of front at this time.
In the middle of the area there is a space to sit with the decks, where they had a large screen showing tennis in Toronto. It helped go through some time when it was raining.
Food and drink
We were much better prepared than in Toronto, so they brought their own sandwiches to the tournament. It’s much cheaper than buying something in place. As soon as the rain arrived and we knew it would not disappear, then alcohol is the only option to face disappointment. We bought some cocktails from drink racks on the northern stall of Stade Iga.
The Turnmment has an official cocktail that is a dragon cocktail with dirty devilish vodka, lemonade, red grapefruit juice, dragon fruit syrup and soda. We also tried Montréal Passion Fruit Mule with dirty devil vodka, fruit juice from passion and ginger. Both very nice and each of them was $ 13. We held cups – it would be nice if they had a tournament written (I still love my US Open Honey Deuce Cup 7 years ago). Still, nice memento from the tournament.
The purchase of the purchase
We went to the main store called Tennis Giant when it was raining, which had a lot of tennis gear. We found a tournament goods that stood near the Entree Gary-Carter ET Prestige, where all the items were behind the counter. I would probably buy a cap if I could look at it in my free time, but the moment passed!
The final ideas
I am grateful that we have to see some living tennis at the beautiful main stadium – I wanted more! It’s a great tournament. If you have to choose between Montréal and Toronto, I would definitely go for Montréal. The 2023 tournament will be remembered of rain and poor planning. My permanent memory will look at the metro station in our ponchos in the tidal rain 😂.
If you have any questions about Omnium Banque Nationale in Montreal, then I would like to help. Please leave a comment or email mootennisblog@gmail.com
