Edmonton Hosts First National Bank Challenger
Pro tennis is descending on Edmonton this week, as the Royal Glenora Club plays host to the Edmonton National Bank Challenger, a $25,000 prize event for both men and women.
The series of tournaments presented by National Bank are elite-level events aimed at giving Canadian players more opportunities to gain experience at home, play world-class players, and earn valuable ITF and ATP/WTA points.
Who Is Playing?
The men’s draw features 4 Canadians with direct acceptance into the main draw, including former Top 100 player Brayden Schnur. The big Canadian is on a comeback after back issues have hampered his ability to compete in recent years.
Check out the full entry list here.
The women’s draw features former Top 30 WTA player and Junior Wimbledon champ Urszula Radwanska of Poland.
Check out the full player list here.
With this being the first year of the event and other events taking place simultaneously, some familiar Canadian players are not present.
Victoria Mboko and Marina Stakusic are competing in Toronto at the Tevlin Challenger where Mboko (17) lost Saturday in the SFs, and Stakusic (18) will play Sunday in the Final.
Katherine Sebov and Rebecca Marino will play in Midland Texas at the WTA125 event starting next week.
Alexis Galarneau and Gabriel Diallo elected to take a week off after busy schedules before they play the Calgary Challenger, starting Nov. 5.
Hosting A Pro Tournament For The First Time
The Royal Glenora Club will be the host facility for this indoor tournament, showcasing a beautiful venue.
Tournament Director Ryan Schroffel on the inspiration to host this event:
“The inspiration to host this tournament came from our interest in contributing to the growth of tennis in Edmonton through providing exposure to professional tennis.
We recently completed a major redevelopment and thought it was perfect time to share the club with our tennis community and players. We are proud to bring this combined Men’s & Women’s Professional tennis to Edmonton for the first time ever.
With over 130 volunteers involved with this event from Edmonton as well as significant interest from local sponsors and funding partners it’s truly a community driven event that we are proud to host.”
Fans can expect a high level of professional tennis with players competing for valuable points.
The Slice will be on the ground to provide a closer look at the players and the stories behind them as they give the Albertan tennis fans a great display of the game we all love.