The official draw ceremony for the 2023 edition of the National Bank Open presented by Rogers was held on Friday evening in downtown Montreal and a thrilling week of tennis awaits fans at IGA Stadium.
Featuring 17 of the Top 20 players in the world, this year’s draw is filled with compelling early matches.
The three Canadians in the main draw, Bianca Andreescu, Leylah Annie Fernandez, and Rebecca Marino will all face qualifiers in the opening round. A win for Andreescu on Centre Court Tuesday night would mean a second round meeting against Petra Kvitova. Meanwhile, a win for Marino would put her into round two against American Coco Gauff and Fernandez could meet the winner of the match between Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia, last year’s finalist in Toronto, and Spaniard Paula Badosa. Meanwhile, Caroline Wozniacki, who will be making her return to the WTA Tour during Tuesday’s day session, and Elina Svitolina will also play qualifiers out of the gate. Still, the blockbuster match of the opening round has to be Venus Williams against her compatriot Madison Keys, seeded no. 13.
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As for the top seeds in this year’s draw, World No. 1 Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula (no. 4 seed) find themselves in the top half of the draw while Aryna Sabalenka (no. 2 seed) and Elena Rybakina (no. 3 seed) are in the bottom section. Caroline Garcia, Gauff, Kvitova, and Maria Sakkari round out the top 8 seeds who benefit from a first round bye. Main draw action gets underway on Monday at 11 a.m. ET.
Friday Fun at IGA Stadium
In addition to the draw ceremony, there was plenty happening on-site for the first day of the tournament and the start of IGA Family Weekend in association with Maple Leaf Foods and VIA Rail Canada.
Not only did Swiatek, Wozniacki, Rybakina, Vondrousova, Eugenie Bouchard, and Paula Badosa all hit the practice courts, but the players also participated in a number of activities around the site.
Karolina Muchova, Marie Bouzkova, and Wozniacki played basketball against members of the Montreal Alliance, Donna Vekic introduced us to her dog, Mali at Zootherapy and Magda Linette stopped by the Motorola razr VR booth to try her hand at the new Tennis Esports game.
Saturday will have more Family Weekend festivities on the menu as well as first round qualifying matches featuring world no. 46 Lesia Tsurenko, reigning Montreal women’s champion Camila Giorgi, and Bouchard who will face off against American Danielle Collins on Centre Court, not before 3 p.m. ET.
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