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Montreal – It is now hard to believe, because the Omnium Banque National Site has been buzzing for 10 days and the fans fill the stands, how this place was exactly five years ago.
Sometimes it feels like another century, a different life. But in August 2020 the tournament was canceled before Covid. And after a five -month stopping at a professional level, Tennis just started again.
But not in Montreal. With all the pro-events in Canada canada canada, Tennis Canada put together a four City tournament tour, so that the young and rising players could at least have some competition match.
Since March she was only training and waiting.
And so – with a lot of free time in our hands – we have transferred to the site, the Mask van Expos in place as a homage for his former tenants.
What we found was a ghost city.
Weeds sprouted between the concrete blocks, underneath and next to the seats. There was graffiti everywhere. Empty beer bottles. And no people – except a few tennis players who fight it in the stand Hof.
This is what it looked like this week.
And here is what it looked like then. Now hard to believe.
The context was at the time that everything was canceled.
Everything. Junior events, masters events, challengers events for both men and women throughout the country, learning-to-play events, ITFS and of course the Big WTA event in Montreal.
Tennis Canada put together the “Tour” on Vier Montreal cities that would normally have organized events -Montreal, Granby (the Joint Challenger), Laval and Rennentigny, which hosts a large junior event that is an adjustment for the Junior US Open.
(Earlier in the summer there was one Type of the competition that takes place in Stade Iga, including Gabriel Diallo and Alexis Galarneauamong many others).
The first was held during the week, at the Tribunehof. There were no safe facilities and a bathroom was open.
The other three events were held in the next three weekends – and when the players went to Granby, for example, they could not even stay in the city that is about 1 1/2 hours of Montreal; They came back every night.
Among the players who participated … Omnium Banque national semi -finalist Victoria Mboko, who at the time went 13 out of 14. And Marina Stakusic.
What a difference makes five years.
Mboko had already left Canada and was on the IMG (Bollettieri) Academy in Bradenton, FLA. Training. But when the pandemia struck, it was closed. And so she came back home.
Here a piece is written about her around that time.
Wednesday evening she will be looking for her first WTA final -and also at the WTA 1000 level.
Women:
Mélodie Collard, Catherine Denysiewicz-Slowek, Sarah-Miude Fortin, Mia Kpres, Raphaelle Lacasse, Catherine Leduc, Victoria Mboko, Lies Niroshan, Noëllly Nsimba, Orly Ogilvy, Marina Stakus and Annabelle.
Gentlemen:
Christophe Clément, Kamen Damov, Sid Donarski, Washi Gervais, Dan Martin, Nicolas Ocana Lavoie, Maxime St-Hilaire and Jaden Weeks.
On the day we stopped, Donarski played in Blue, Damov (above).
We wanted to see Mboko, who was already on our radar at the time. But it took so long to find an entrance to even replace that we missed her.
The masked line referees bring you back. The scoring system with the numbered placards and the … Orange cone were … a trip.
Eventually it was Donarski and Mélodie Collard on the women’s side who were the big winners, after the final in Granby.
One thing is certain. If you were of a certain age in your tennis development, the pandemic that came along you stopped in your tracks. Because there is no alternative universe, they will never know what could have been.
However, that is also true in all other aspects of the planet. Not just tennis.
At the time, it was a small published fact that many players still train in the National Center indoors, even if it was closed for everyone else and almost against all guidelines.
Especially for Collard – who had reached the Junior Grand Slam level in 2019 and collaborated with Leylah Fernandez in doubles at Roland Garros – it was a sudden stop. A talented athlete with a great game, her chance to do some big things in the juniors and to use it as a launch platform was cut off.
Collard and Fernandez won the doubles at the Saguenay Challenger in the fall of 2019.
She was in the top 20 in the ITF Junior Rankings to start at the age of 16 2020 (no. 17). She didn’t play for 14 months after that – and even a few more events then.
We wrote about her two years ago.
With the help of UvA’s zero collective, it seems that she may now try the pros at the age of 22.
Many of the men (and boys) who completed in this Tour went further to the university – most of them in Canada South – ie the University of Kentucky.
Noëllly NSimba, who participated in this tour, graduated from the state of Youngstown in Kinesiology and has become a recording artist and actually sang the national anthem before he is the opening of the evening this year.
Let’s hope we will never have to continue that again.
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