Montréal, September 29, 2022 —
The 32-year-old will receive one of three wild cards to enter the main draw of each event. The names of the other wild cards will be announced a week before the start of the tournaments. The list of players, which will likely include several Canadians, will be released two to three weeks ahead of time.
“We’re thrilled to have Kei at our tournaments,” jointly said Alain Caillé, tournament president in Drummondville, and Danny Da Costa, tournament director in Calgary. “He’s been one of the most prolific players on the Tour since the start of his career, and even though he’s coming back from a major injury, he remains a very talented player. We’re looking forward to seeing him play again in Canada, and there’s no doubt our fans will be, too.”
The former finalist at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers (2016) and the US Open (2014) has won 12 ATP titles and more than 25 M$ in prize money, and also competed in 14 finals in his career. Bronze medalist at the 2016 Olympics, he’s one of the rare players on tour who has recorded wins over all members from the Big Three, namely Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Coached by former World No.2 and French Open Champion (1989) Michael Chang and former Top 20 player Max Mirnyi, he earned his most recent title in Brisbane, Australia, in 2019.
On Wednesday, Tennis Canada announced that former World No.4 Kei Nishikori of Japan was awarded a wild card into the main draw of the National Bank Challenger in Calgary from November 6 to 13 and in Drummondville from November 13 to 20. Nishikori is returning to tennis after a hip injury that has kept him away from the game since October 2021.
Tickets and broadcasts
To purchase tickets, go to the official websites of the tournaments:
The matches will be streamed. Fans can click on the following link to catch all the action featuring some of the brightest up-and-comers in men’s tennis: https://www.atptour.com/en/atp-challenger-tour/challenger-tv.
About the National Bank Challenger tournaments
The Drummondville National Bank Challenger and Calgary National Bank Challenger are among the tournaments in the Challenger circuit sponsored by National Bank, which also includes the men’s edition of the National Bank Championships in Granby, the men’s Challenger in Winnipeg and the women’s Challenger in Saguenay. Aiming to support the development of the international elite, the professional tournaments provide Canadian athletes with their first experiences on the Tours and the opportunity to earn valuable points to move up in the world rankings. Over the years, the National Bank Challenger tournaments have served as a springboard for players including Canadian stars Félix Auger-Aliassime, Leylah Annie Fernandez, Denis Shapovalov and Bianca Andreescu, as well as Maxime Cressy and John Isner of the US, Daniel Evans of the UK, Angelique Kerber and Sabine Lisicki of Germany and Ons Jabeur of Tunisia.
About Tennis Canada
Founded in 1890, Tennis Canada is a non-profit, national sport association with a mission to lead the growth of tennis in Canada and a vision to become a world-leading tennis nation. We value teamwork, passion, integrity, innovation and excellence. Tennis Canada owns and operates the premier National Bank Open presented by Rogers WTA and ATP Tour events, four professional ATP and ITF sanctioned events and financially supports four other professional tournaments in Canada. Tennis Canada operates junior national training centres/programs in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. Tennis Canada is a proud member of the International Tennis Federation, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Paralympic Committee, and serves to administer, sponsor and select the teams for Davis Cup, Billie Jean King Cup, the Olympic and Paralympic Games and all wheelchair, junior and senior national teams. Tennis Canada invests its surplus into tennis development. For more information on Tennis Canada please visit our Web site at: www.tenniscanada.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Information
Marc-Antoine Farly,
Advisor, Communications and Media Relations
mafarly@tenniscanada.com
514-444-3556
