Just Desserts for Montreal Director

She is a tournament director's dream, or should be, especially at the Canadian Open, especially in Montreal. We're talking about the former World #1 Ana Ivanovic, 2008 French Open champ who had her breakthrough moment in Montreal back in 2006, winner her first offical tour title. Current Tournament Director Eugene Lapierre concedes as much. "She's a player who has done a lot for out tournament--almost saved it one year. She has a lot of charisma. Everyone likes her."

An ideal candidate for a Wild Card. Due to injuries and distractions, Ivanovic's ranking slid to the mid 60's, preventing her from being admitted into the Canadian Open main draw. In July her manager sought a WC on her behalf. Lapierre was blunt, telling Team Ivanovic that he was saving the wild card for a native Canadian player. Fair enough; Ivanovic was prepared to play through the Canadian qualifying rounds in her comeback bid. That is until she read Lapierre's interview from his local paper the Montreal Gazette. Here were some of the more salient quotes from the loose-lipped Lapierre.

"She hasn't demonstrated that she deserves a wild card. She is the one who dropped down to number 65, and not because of an injury.

"If I were her coach, I would force her to play qualies."

Oops.

As the opening match of the 2010 Canadian Open approached, injuries took out the Williams sisters, Justine Henin and Sam Stosur, forcing LaPierre to backtrack, especially in light of Ivanovic's impressive run to the Semifinals of the big-name Cincinnati tour stop. "There's still a chance," said Lapierre a week prior to the tourney. "Especially now that Ana is playing like a top 10 player again. Stand by for developments." It was a bit late for stand-by's. Ana's response was posted on her web site.

"I would have been happy to play qualifying, but I felt they stepped over the line with this (Montreal Gazette) interview, making public our correspondence and misrepresenting it. I don't feel welcome."

Ouch.

Fast Forward to here and now. On the day when the next women's event is scheduled to commence, Sunday August 22 in New Haven, Lapierre is under an umbrella with his hand out, wondering what else could possibly go wrong for his tournament. On a day when trophies should have been handed out, checks written, players kissed and then escorted to the airport, Lapierre has barely completed the quarterfinals. Two days of relentless rain has turned his magnificent stadium into an expensive ghost town. The Wozniacki/Kuznetsova semifinal, that could see the just-turned-20-year-old Wozniacki clinch a #1 seed at the U.S. Open, turned into a comedic soccer exhibition in what was essentially a mausoleum. Fans are being asked to show up at 10 AM for simultaneous semifinals on Monday, with a separate admission Championship match at 1:30.

What brutal circumstances for players, fans, and most significantly, tournament director Eugene LaPierre. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.