Hello Darlings, Nothing gets our pulse racing and heart beating like cheering on our favourite team. Now an entire country coming together to support our athletes at the Olympics, that's national pride. With Rio 2016 taking place it left me reminiscing of my trip to Montreal back in July. Over the weekend of July 8th, I was invited to celebrate one of my favourite sports — tennis. With Rogers Cup set to take place the following week, National Bank was celebrating 10 years of supporting  tennis in Canada. A worthy occasion for an epic celebration! That is not to say that I do not love other sports, I'm a big fan of baseball and hockey but as far as tennis goes it is for different reason. Tennis is the only spectator sports where female players have attained the same level of respect and success as men.

In tennis, women matches are given equal screen time, are played on the same courts and have equal pay. Can you say that for any other sports, and yes golf is often compared but after some research it does not. In fact, tennis is the only sport where women have the opportunity to make equal to men. With the wage gap where women make 78.3% of what men earn it's something to celebrate. Interesting enough only 3 women appear on Forbes's list of 100 highest-paid athletes and all of them are tennis players. So as far as female fan base goes, complete kudos to tennis! Everything is possible if you dare to change the game.

Since 1881 for men and 1892 for women, the best players in the world have competed on our soil. In comparison only Wimbledon and US Open have longer histories than our home stop, and for the past 10 years National Bank has been the presenting partner.

To celebrate the history of this beautiful game and the 10 year anniversary ALT COURT was created. The exclusive event  that took place at Uniprix  Stadium reinterpreted the classic game of tennis. During the games the courts are kept silent, during the party DJ Ryan Hemworth kept everyone dancing while Tentacle Tribe performed all evening. The classic uniforms were replaced by futuristic creations of Tinashe Musara.  That evening nobody played within the lines!

With Love...

Marta