OUR MISSION
STADE IGAis a nonprofit organization that aims to foster tennis development and encourage all players to pursue excellence.
ABOUT US
STADE IGA is a multifunctional public tennis facility that serves as a national centre for training, development, competition and coach and official certification.
STADE IGA works in close collaboration with Tennis Canada, Tennis Québec and Tennis Montréal to fulfill its mission. The four organizations share the use of the courts.
MAIN OBJECTIVES
- Foster greater participation in tennis
- Remain especially accessible to young people
- Play a leadership role in the promotion and development of tennis
- Ensure the profitability of the installations by hosting activities and events
HISTORY
Jarry Park
Created in 1925, Jarry Park is one of Montréal’s large parks. After leasing the park from the Jarry family for many years, the city acquired the land in September 1945. The grounds had always been of great interest to Montréalers, who recognized its potential as a place for community building and development.
In the late 1950s, the Montréal Alouettes set up a training centre in the park, making Jarry Park more widely known and bringing the park more prestige than ever before. In 1966, the city’s soccer stars joined the football players. In 1960, the baseball diamond was open to local teams and hosted Montréal’s junior league. Nine years later, when the Montréal Expos moved to Jarry Park, 29 000 spectators were on hand for the team’s first match of the season. In the eight years that the Expos were in residence at the stadium, 7.5 million tickets were sold.
In 1973, the baseball stadium emerged onto the international scene as the host of prestigious large-scale events, including two that left an indelible mark on the recent history of Jarry Park: the Canadian Open tennis tournament and a visit by Pope John Paul II.
STADE IGA
In 1981, the very first international tennis tournament was held in Montréal. For Tennis Canada, the stadium at Jarry Park was an obvious choice. A few coats of paint and four new tennis courts later, John Beddington and event organizers inaugurated the new facilities in 1980 with a women’s Challenger tournament.
In 1981, the world’s best tennis players descended on Montréal to play in a rudimentary stadium with baseball seating, improvised spectator boxes on Centre Court and a bare-bones organizing team.
Year to year, the tournament spread its wings. In 1993, it joined the elite group of nine ATP Masters events. The only cloud on the horizon was the stadium’s aging facilities. To meet the demands of tennis fans and preserve the tournament’s international status, the installations had to be renovated.
On February 9, 1995, the city of Montréal and Tennis Canada set out a memorandum of understanding under which the city granted 20 acres (approximately 84 800 m2) of Jarry Park to the organization to build new tennis facilities.
In 1996, Jarry Park was transformed into a modern tennis centre, including Centre Court and indoor courts. One-quarter of the court time was reserved for potential players, half the time was booked for free play and another quarter was dedicated to tennis excellence and tournaments. Tennis Canada, Tennis Québec and Tennis Montréal moved their offices to the new stadium.
In 2001, Tennis Canada added 1 250 seats on Centre Court. Three years later, it built National Bank Court with seating for 4 500 and four additional indoor courts.
Finally, in 2011, four clay courts and a new press gallery were added to STADE IGA and the National Tennis Centre installations.
OUR PARTNERS
IGA is the largest group of independent grocers in Canada and its origins in Quebec date back to 1953. The 293 IGA merchants are constantly looking for new ways to better serve their customers. The IGA banner includes the IGA, IGA extra and IGA express stores.
