OMNIUM BANQUE NATIONALE

August 13, 2026

Valérie Tétrault

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. In the feasibility study you found a negligible difference in cost between the scenario you chose and just renovating the current stadium. Is that option still on the table considering all the public uproar about this?

VALERIE TETRAULT: As of right now, the next phase of study hasn't started, but should be starting very soon. And, really, the goal of the feasibility study was to identify what we believe is the best scenario to protect this tournament in the long-term.

And so the next phase of study will really focus on that scenario, and that means building a new stadium, a three-season stadium with a retractable roof, but looking, obviously, at all the different other aspects that we can bring that we think can benefit different users of the park.

Q. Your colleague last week spoke of solutions being needed to fix some of the problems around why so many top players didn't show up this week. What solutions, in terms of scheduling or otherwise, are being considered?

VALERIE TETRAULT: So I think this will be an important part of the discussion in the meetings that are coming up at the US Open. We, Tennis Canada, will be writing a letter to the board to make sure that it's part of the discussions.

We know that the ATP is already working on a strategy for 2028, because, again, the calendar will already be impacted due to this new Masters 1000 in Riyadh that will be played for the first time in 2028.

And so I think it's about finding either some better incentives in making sure that the top players are playing at the Masters 1000, or looking also at how does it impact them if they don't play, whether it's the ranking, whether the ranking system in terms of the number of tournaments that count towards their rankings.

But those are the things, really, that the ATP, I believe, can continue to look at in finding better ways, basically, to make sure the top players are playing the best tournaments.

Q. With regards to the calendar, the next men's edition in Montreal is going to be in 2028. It's going to be an Olympic year with an extra Masters 1000, as you just mentioned. Wimbledon seems to be encroaching on the Olympics. I was wondering if you have any kind of visibility on what's going to happen in 2028 and if you'd give us a bit more of an insight. And, also, I was wondering that as of Tennis Canada the men's tournament in Montreal is the strongest product, I was wondering if you are considering switching back to the men and women kind of years, did that before COVID when, okay, the even years would be men in Toronto and women in Montreal. It's a bit complicated.

VALERIE TETRAULT: I get it, yeah. So about the 2028 Olympics, we've been having discussion, I would say, for already probably a little bit more than a year with the WTA and the ATP for both our tournaments in Montreal and Toronto about the schedule.

I think, for once, the schedule isn't bad for us, if we compare to what it was in Paris in 2024 when it was literally right before our tournament. It was on a different surface. It was obviously far, with a big time difference.

This time it will be played right after Wimbledon. There will still be Washington in between the Olympics and us. Of course, when we embraced this new 12-day format, it came with the caveat that during an Olympic year we will go back to being a seven-day main draw event.

But we think that in 2028 maybe there's a way to add one to two more days to our main draw. And so that is part of the work that we are doing right now with the tours in trying to finalize the schedule.

I believe that both tours are trying to make sure that they can release the 2028 calendar either by the end of the year or early next year. And so that's where we need to continue to work with them to try and get as many days as possible, knowing that this is a good year for us being an Olympic year.

And on the second question, I would say, no, no discussion right now happening in doubling up, for example, so that we would switch the order. So the plan is just to continue to alternate as it is right now.

And, obviously, selfishly looking forward to welcoming the women next year in what will be the fist year that we have equal prize money. I think that will be a very important milestone, obviously, for our tournament. And so I'm excited that it is happening in Montreal.

Q. I think this is a major international event, but I don't think it quite galvanizes the city as, say, the F1 or hockey, obviously. Why do you think that is, and what do you think is holding the tournament back? Do you think this tournament could ever capture the city like those other events do?

VALERIE TETRAULT: I mean, I look at our numbers, and I think we're getting really close, actually, to the attendance that you see in the F1 Grand Prix, for example.

So I think over here we don't necessarily attract maybe as many tourists as of right now than the F1 Grand Prix. But I think that's where with the retractable roof that would change a little bit, maybe, those numbers as well, because again, if you are going to travel, whether it's by car or by plane, to go to a sporting event, well, you want to have the guarantee that you're going to get to see some matches.

And so I think that would be a game changer, and I think that's really our opportunity, actually, to attract a lot more tourists if we're able to make this project come to life.

Q. Completely different topic. The court pace this year in Montreal was considerably slower than it was last year. I was wondering if it was intentional and what was the rationale behind it?

VALERIE TETRAULT: Basically, our intention was really to align with the US Open. And so the number in terms of the speed of the courts used by the US Open was shared with us a couple weeks before we resurfaced the courts. And so that's really the measure we used to try and make sure that we were as good of a preparation as we can be for that tournament.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you very much.