Quote:
Originally Posted by Nadal Fan
Has anyone been to the Rogers Cup? I believe next year the men are in Montreal and I'd like to see Nadal play live cause he's not going to be on tour much longer. Thinking this is probably the cheapest option.
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I went in 2013 and got lucky, it was probably the best Rogers Cup of all time: Milos vs Pospisil and Rafa vs Djoker semis. Rafa took the final against Milos, you would have loved it. I've also been to 2014 and 2017 Indian Wells, Rafa attended both those times too.
I'm not great with vacation budgets so I wouldn't be able to say if one trip was much more expensive than the other. you can really customize how much you spend by seat selection, round, accommodations and flight deals. I honestly think both tournaments have equal chance next year of Rafa showing up.
Montreal
+ energetic, historic city
+ great local food and culture
+ amazing hot dogs at the tournament (I can't explain how, they just are)
+ no currency conversion
+ don't need a car
- tennis grounds are a little outdated
- some players skip in favor of Cincinnati (usually Roger)
- everyone speaks english, though you may occassionally get a bit of impatience if your french is bad and/or you don't know any
Indian Wells
+ chill Palm Springs vibe, laid back and relaxing
+ good restaurants and shopping
+ the best tournament facilities in North America, maybe anywhere
- can get pretty hot, even in March
- definitely need a car
- US currency raises prices a bit on everything
- security checks keep getting tighter every year cause you know, America. For example, I used to be able to bring in a backpack with whatever I wanted, e.g. food, drinks. Now your bag has to be transparent (really!) and no liquids allowed, though you can still bring empty bottles and snacks
if you've never been to either one, the Montreal trip is a bit more of a general "vacation" because of location and amount of things to do outside of tennis. After that though, I'd still go IW for a tennis focused trip because it attracts all the big names and the facilities are just so damn impressive.
both tourneys will let you get pretty close to your heroes on the practice courts. I'd recommend tickets for between the 3rd round and QFs, as they're more cost effective and there's a lower chance of the guy you want to see being knocked out by that point. there's also a lot more going on at side courts and just a lot of good tennis "buzz" in the middle of the week.
I don't think you can go wrong either way. I'll probably do a trip next year too if Roger comes back for one more tour. bonus for 2022, Shapo/Felix/Bianca/Leylah are going to be front and centre, getting to see the Canadian Wave in person will be pretty special.