Venus Out of Montreal

“If we didn’t already have the best players in the world, if we didn’t get all the players we think we can get, my choice would certainly be for the wild cards to go to international players, because you want to sell the attraction.  But we have them, so it’s normal to give the chance to young players.”

-- Montreal tournament director, Eugene Lapierre, back when he initially denied AI a wildcard. 

Now, two days before the start of his tournament, he doesn't have Serena, Venus, or Sam (three of the top five players in he world), and depending on what happens in Sunday's final, it's entirely possible he won't have Masha.  I'm just saying.

But it's ok, you guys!  They have Stephanie Dubois and Valerie Tetreault!  They'll be fine.

And honestly, it took longer for me to figure out how to spell Valerie's name than it did to write this whole goddamned post.