With the last Grand Slam tournament of the season, the US Open, coming up in a few days, the top players in the world are gearing up for the event by participating in the National Bank Open. One of the two Masters tournaments other than the Cincinnati Open before the US Open, it provides the perfect platform for the players to transition from the grass courts to the hard courts. Many top players, like Iga Swiatek, will play their first tournament after the Wimbledon Championships. However, the likes of Swiatek and Jelena Ostapenko have suffered a blow due to unforeseen conditions.
It was a cool and cloudy day in Montreal, but it soon turned into a sky with dark clouds as rain gods opened up. Suddenly, there was a downpour and the play was suspended at the tournament. At one point in time, it looked as if the play couldn’t have been resumed today, as it rained quite heavily in Montreal. Just before the play was suspended, Ostapenko had just begun her match and was leading 2-1 in the opening set. However, the players had to pause and rush to the dressing room, as rain came down heavily.
Minutes later, the rain stopped, to everyone’s surprise. However, it was good news for the fans who had come to witness live action. The courts were allowed to get dry, and play was set to begin once the courts became dry and no further rain occurred. The singles matches that got affected due to this were the ones between Caty McNally and Rebecca Sramkova, Hanyu Guo and Iga Swiatek, and Renata Zarazua and Jelena Ostapenko.
Courts getting dry at the WTA Montreal 1000. Play to resume in 30-45 mins, if no more rain.
Matches suspended/delayed:
Caty McNally vs Rebecca Sramkova
Hanyu Guo vs Iga Swiatek
Renata Zarazua vs Jelena Ostapenko 1-2*
Danilovic / Hsieh vs Andreeva / Shnaider 7-6, 5-4*… pic.twitter.com/dzaUV5Lb8n
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Meanwhile, according to the weather forecast, the conditions at the tournament are expected to remain cloudy with some chances of rain. Thus, there runs a risk of the tournament schedule going haywire, something that players like Swiatek have openly criticized. The Pole has recently called out the super-intense schedule, which affected her physical and mental well-being.
Iga Swiatek highlights the challenges of a packed tennis schedule
With the tournaments coming thick and fast, there is hardly any breathing space left for the players. Moreover, the players have to participate in the mandatory tournaments according to the new rule; otherwise, they run the risk of getting a zero in ranking points, which significantly affects their rankings. Swiatek was one of the players who criticized this rule and slammed the hectic tennis calendar.
She revealed, “The scheduling is super intense; it’s too intense. Sometimes we need to sacrifice playing for your country because we need to keep up with playing these WTA 500s, for example, because we’re going to get a zero in the ranking. I think these kind of obligations and the rules about mandatory tournaments just put pressure on us… I think people would still watch tennis, maybe even more, if we played less tournaments. The quality would be better.”
Nonetheless, Swiatek is back to her best and won her sixth Grand Slam title at Wimbledon recently. With an eye on another major title to cap off her season, Swiatek would go out all guns blazing at the National Bank Open.
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