Rule of Federer: Ticket prices go up as supply goes down
When it comes to the Rogers Cup, it pays to buy your tickets early.
One disgruntled fan complained that Tennis Canada raised the prices for the Wednesday afternoon session after announcing that Roger Federer would be playing his secondround match. The prices did indeed go up and Federer had some effect on the increase.
The tournament has joined the growing number of sports that employ dynamic pricing.
In the case of the Canadiens, you can expect to pay more when the Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Bruins or Toronto Maple Leafs come to town. At the Rogers Cup, the prices rise as the supply of tickets shrink.
“It’s a classic case of supply and demand,” said tournament director Eugene Lapierre. “When we have 2,000 tickets left, the price goes up and again when there are 1,000 tickets left and 500 left. We encourage people to buy their tickets early.”
Raonic debut delayed: Questions about the health of Milos Raonic surfaced Monday when tournament organizers announced that Raonic’s first match against Adrian Mannarino of France will be played Wednesday evening. Raonic, who pronounced himself healthy Sunday, suffered what was described as a “minor injury” while practising and requested an extra day off. Wednesday has reached must-watch status with Roger Federer and Raonic on centre court in the afternoon and Rafael Nadal in the spotlight in the evening. Denis Shapovalov, the 18-year-old from Toronto, will be in the stadium Tuesday afternoon against Rogerio
Dutra da Silva of Brazil. Tuesday evening features 15th-seeded American Jack Sock against Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France followed by Diego Schwartzman of Argentina against third-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria.
The long and short of it: The most intriguing first-round match pitted the tallest player in the draw — 6-foot-11 American Reilly Opelka — against the shortest — 5-foot-7 Schwartzman. As expected. Opelka won the battle of serves as he cranked up 21 to three for Schwartzman. But the Argentine was stronger off the ground and capitalized on his break opportunities to win 6-3, 6-7, 6-4.
Monfils comes through: Crowd favourite Gaël Monfils was spraying balls all over centre court in the first set of his match against American Steve Johnson but he settled down to win 2-6, 7-6, 6-1.
“I was not confident, I had trouble moving,” Monfils said of his slow start. “When I came here, I felt little pains here and there. It took me a long time in the match to start feeling better and more fluid. At 4-3 in the second set. I started putting the ball in the court. I was able to move better. I was able to make it more difficult for him. From then on, I was able to get some more opportunities and I made him have some doubts.”
Great One sighting: Wayne Gretzky ventured out to one of the back courts to watch Shapovalov practise. Gretzky was accompanied by his wife, actress Janet Jones and their daughter Emma. He also shared some words with twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan and signed autographs. The 14-year-old Emma, who is a promising junior tennis player, traded some shots with one of Shapovalov’s hitting partners.
Lost in translation: The daily program featured controversial Australian Nick Kyrgios on the cover along with the headline “Kyrgios: Marches to the beat of his own drum.”