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ROGERS CUPJuly 25, 2016Eugene LapierreMontreal, Quebec, Canada An interview with: EUGENE LAPIERRE THE MODERATOR: Questions in English. Q. Look ahead to having two Québec athletes on the court tomorrow, the enthusiasm of that. EUGENE LAPIERRE: It's great. Actually three of Québec athletes tomorrow because Abanda will be placed tomorrow, as well. It's great to see the show made by our players. We've been always hoping that it would happen, and now it's happening more and more. The fun part for me is that it's not over. I sincerely hope that it's just a start, that we're going to see more and more of that. We know that on the men's side we have a youngster that is going to be very good. We don't want to talk about him too much because we don't want to put too much pressure. There are other kids around his age that are very, very good. I heard about our team at 12-and-under that was touring around Europe and they won everything. So the 12-and-under are looking very good. We put in place a system that seems to be working very well. People all around the world in tennis are asking, What's happening with Canada? We're proud of that. The success of the tournament is certainly a big, big reason of this happening. So tomorrow when we watch these girls playing, win or lose, we have to be proud of what we've achieved so far. Q. Francoise is in the evening? EUGENE LAPIERRE: The evening session on Court National Bank, yes. It was difficult to push off some of the biggest stars of the tour off center court. We'll have a good crowd around her, yeah. THE MODERATOR: Questions in French. Q. We can't say the day was easy as far as the forecast. EUGENE LAPIERRE: We knew from the start it would be a difficult day. We were able to play all the matches minus one, so we're satisfied with the day. Q. You canceled the last match to give more time to Abanda? EUGENE LAPIERRE: No, it would have been an anticlimax to have her play late tonight. People are gone. There's no time limit. We could have had to wake up at 4:00 in the morning to play that match. I mean, it's a pity to play a match when nobody is there to watch it. We'll make sure we have a full stadium tomorrow to watch that match. Q. When will the match be? EUGENE LAPIERRE: In the evening. Q. And you'll have Eugenie play, too? EUGENE LAPIERRE: Yes. Two Canadians tomorrow. So we'll have Abanda play on the National Bank Court and move Muguruza. Q. And the players, did they agree? EUGENE LAPIERRE: Well, I believe they wanted to play tonight. But I spoke with the coaches, and they say it was better instead of waiting tonight, to have a good night's sleep and play tomorrow morning. Q. Is there a specific time limit for the evening? EUGENE LAPIERRE: No, you can finish a match at 4:00 in the morning, if needed. But we are putting on a show. If we want people to be there and watch, it's better to plan the match for the next day. Q. Do you consider having a cover on the court so you won't have to dry it? Is there any way of making the drying a bit faster? EUGENE LAPIERRE: Well, a faster drying? Did you see how long it takes? It's not more than 45 minutes. If you have a cover on a hard court, it doesn't really work. It's okay for the grass or the clay. No hard court tournaments use covers. It takes more time to put the cover on than to dry the court. Now, as for the roof, we are studying the idea of having a roof. Q. Apparently the idea of having a retractable roof on the Uniprix Stadium has been approved. Did you have meetings to advance the project? EUGENE LAPIERRE: Well, before trying to fund the project, we, of course, need to have the agreement of the city, and we are working on this project. However, there's still a lot to be done before we can go ahead. We have no dates for the time being. This is just a project for the time being. Q. But have we made progress since last year? EUGENE LAPIERRE: Well, we now know better what has been done in other places. We don't have a price for the time being, of course. But if we decide to go ahead with this project, the first thing we want to do is have it approved by our neighbors here in this neighborhood, the people from Montréal. We have to talk to them because this is a community park. We are occupying a lot of space in this park and we have an impact on the neighborhood, so we need to talk to them first. If it's okay, we go ahead. Q. The Grand Slams are now having roofs. Is it a matter of when rather than if? EUGENE LAPIERRE: This idea has a lot of future. There are many advantages to it. First, it could make our tournament long-lasting on the international scene. We would remain among the best tournaments in the world. It can contribute to the development of sport. This tournament, if it is successful, can be an asset, and it is. So if we could be among the first tournaments to have a roof, it would give an advantage to our tournament. My impression is that within 15 years, most tournaments will have a roof. Australian Open, Wimbledon, the US Open have a roof. The French Open is trying to have a roof. They'll have it in two years maybe. Madrid has one for the Masters. I was speaking with the Italians this week who were saying they might have a roof maybe in Rome soon. So to remain at the international level, it is an asset. I think it's worthwhile for us to try to remain among the top tournaments in the world. This is a good little stadium here. I'm saying 'a little one' because there are bigger ones. But it can't be used a lot because there's no roof. So if we had a roof, shows or concerts could also be organized for the people living in Montréal. It would be interesting and unique to have a stadium for outdoor shows that would be guaranteed if there were rain. Q. Do you believe there will be pressure from the athletes to have a roof? EUGENE LAPIERRE: It's not only the athletes. I believe the television networks will have their say. They are more and more interested in tennis, especially for men's tennis. We've been working with a company called Perform, and we signed a contract. Before, we only had two courts that were broadcasted abroad, and they want five courts to be broadcasted everywhere in the world. If you have a South American player playing an Asian player, each one can watch their own player from Court No. 9 or No. 5. And this is going to grow because there is a demand, and there are many different platforms for the fans to follow their idols. The pressure will come from there more than from the players. Q. Have you calculated the amount of loss caused by the rain when there is no play? EUGENE LAPIERRE: There are different impacts. First you have people who do not buy their tickets on the given day. You have those who had bought a ticket but were not coming. And you have those who were invited but are not coming. Then they don't spend money at the site because they are not here. It's a bit difficult to add up everything. But in the end it counts. During this qualifying weekend, Sunday we had beautiful weather. Just for food, with 12,000 people here, we had a revenue of $80,000. But Saturday we only made a small fraction of this amount because no one was here. It was raining. We could calculate it more precisely, but anyway it has an impact. Q. So you had the rain. Serena pulled out. Is it a difficult start for the tournament? EUGENE LAPIERRE: People understand what we're doing. We are putting on a show. They know there are things that as organizers we cannot control: the players themselves, whether they win or lose, and the temperature. The beginning of the tournament was illustrating this perfectly. But there are the top 20 players here and the weather is supposed to go good the following days. I'm a spectator like everyone else, and I'm looking forward to those matches. Q. Are the Canadian players more important this year because of the Olympics and Serena pulling out? EUGENE LAPIERRE: Their results are always important. But we know nothing about the results they can have this year. Wozniak has had a very bad year with many injuries. She hasn't played so well lately. But we want to give her a chance to play the best players in the world. She's going to have a tough match against Errani. As for Abanda, she was favored because Serena retired. She's going to play a qualifying player, a Chinese player. I was there for the draw. We had 12 qualifying players and a lucky loser. The invited player was Chinese. She was looking who was going to play whom. Suddenly she saw her name, she saw she was playing Abanda. She said, Who is Abanda? Who is that? So the officials told her she was Canadian, and she was very happy. She thought it was a good deal for her. But maybe she'll be disappointed because Abanda is going to try to win before her home crowd. Another interesting match will be the match of Bouchard. We heard what she said in the interviews. I think she really wants everyone to forget her last appearance here in 2014. From what I heard, recently she's back to her highest level. She just needs one or two victories to become confident again. I spoke with her coaches, the new one and the previous one. Her coach that worked with her for five months and brought her back to No. 11, he was very complimentary of her work during practice. Compared with Li Na, Sharapova, Eugenie is right up there, he said. All this is interesting to hear. But she's going to have a tough match tomorrow nevertheless. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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