National Bank Open Montreal 2026 Fan's Guide

The National Bank Open presented by Rogers is one of the nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments — a tier just below the Grand Slams in prestige and a significant step above the average professional tennis event in terms of field quality. In 2026, the men’s tournament comes to Montreal (it alternates annually between Montreal and Toronto), running August 1 to 13 at IGA Stadium.

This is 21 sessions of professional tennis over 12 days. The world’s best men’s players — the current ATP top 10 plus the next wave of contenders — compete on outdoor hard courts in Montreal’s best summer weather window. It is a genuinely excellent event to attend, and the IGA Stadium setup is well-suited to making a single session or a full day work.

The format

The National Bank Open is a draw of 64 players for the main draw. The first round begins August 1, with the tournament progressing through rounds of 32, 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and the final on August 13. Seeds receive byes into the second round, which means the early sessions showcase qualifier and wildcard matches alongside the unseeded main draw entries.

The ATP draw ceremony takes place on Friday, July 31, with the first match schedule published the same evening. The bracket positions of the major stars are confirmed then — which sessions to prioritize becomes clear once the draw is out.

Why Montreal

The alternating schedule means Montreal gets the men’s draw every other year (Toronto gets the women’s Masters in the years Montreal has the men’s). The last few times the men’s draw came to Montreal, the atmosphere at IGA Stadium has been notably strong — the city’s bilingual sports culture, the European tennis-watching tradition among many of Montreal’s communities, and the outdoor summer setting combine to produce something that feels more like a European event than a North American one.

The draw ceremony and first week of play often generate the most interesting tennis — upsets, early exits by seeded players, the emergence of a qualifier story. The final weekend is the most concentrated quality, but it requires the highest ticket prices and the most advance planning.

IGA Stadium

IGA Stadium (formerly Uniprix Stadium) sits in Parc Jarry in the Outremont/Villeray border area, a short Metro ride from downtown on the Orange Line (De Castelnau station). The stadium’s main court holds around 12,000, with additional courts for outer-round matches running simultaneously in the days before the quarterfinals.

The outer courts during the first week are one of the tournament’s most underrated experiences. For a few dollars more than the price of a park admission ticket, you can watch players ranked 50–150 in the world play at close range on uncrowded courts with no screens between you and the match. This is where you see the technical craft of the game most clearly, without the distance or crowd noise of the main stadium.

Tickets

Single-session tickets are available at nationalbankopen.com/montreal/tickets-packages/montreal-single-session-tickets. The 21 sessions span all rounds from first round through the final. Evening sessions during the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds are typically the highest demand. Afternoon first-round sessions are often available close to the event.

The draw structure means the most compelling matches are not predictable in advance — you know the quarterfinalists will play on the quarterfinal day, but not who they are. If you want to guarantee seeing the top players, the semifinal or final sessions are the safest bets.

What to watch for

The Masters 1000 level in 2026 features a genuinely interesting competitive landscape. The established top players remain dominant but are increasingly challenged by a generation of younger players who have refined their games on hard courts specifically. The Montreal hard courts suit players with heavy topspin groundstrokes and strong serving — a profile that tends to produce fast, aggressive baseline tennis rather than long defensive exchanges.

For spectators who do not follow tennis closely: the most accessible metric is serve speed and return quality. What looks effortless at this level — a 220 km/h serve that is redirected deep cross-court on the return — is technically extraordinary, and seeing it in person at the distance of a medium-distance stadium seat registers in a way that television does not capture.

Before and after the tennis

Parc Jarry is pleasant in August and surrounds the stadium complex — bring a picnic for the afternoon if you arrive early for an evening session. The park has space to decompress between matches if you are spending a full day at the tournament.

Villeray and Little Italy are the logical dining neighborhoods for tournament visitors. Little Italy on Saint-Laurent and the Marché Jean-Talon area (a 15-minute walk from the stadium) offer the best density of restaurants and terraces. Marché Jean-Talon’s outdoor stalls are particularly good in August, when local produce and the summer vendor program are both running.

Getting back: De Castelnau Metro is the obvious exit. On final weekend nights, the station gets crowded — there is no elegant solution here. The walk to Mile End or the Plateau is around 20–25 minutes if the evening is pleasant enough to justify it.

îLESONIQ overlap

The National Bank Open begins August 1, the same weekend as Osheaga (July 31–August 2) and one week before îLESONIQ (August 8–9). The first weekend of August is Montreal’s most festival-dense stretch of the summer. A day at Osheaga followed by a National Bank Open evening session is physically possible — and an unusually good combination of cultural experiences for a single day.

Sources: National Bank Open official site, Tourisme Montréal sports events, Ticketmaster NBO 2026.