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Tennis stars Rafa Nadal and Dominic Thiem had a bit of entertainment ahead of their opening matches at the Rogers Cup as they played mini tennis at a popular inclined tower. A 165-meter inclined tower, located at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, is the world's tallest tower of that type.

Taking #CoupeRogers to new heights. @RafaelNadal & @ThiemDomi on the the world's highest inclined tower at Olympic Stadium.

#375mtl pic.twitter.com/3MlZ4uvsUh — Coupe Rogers (@CoupeRogers) August 7, 2017

Nadal and Thiem, seeded at numbers one and three respectively, have a bye first-round at the Masters 1000 event in Montreal.

The Spaniard awaits the winner of the match between Borna Coric and Mikhail Youzhny while the rising Austrian is set to clash off against either Diego Schwartzman or Reilly Opelka in round two. As Nadal leads the top half of the draw and Thiem is placed at the bottom half, the two could only meet in Sunday's final.

Nadal, a three-time Rogers Cup champion, won his maiden title at the event 12 years ago in Montreal before winning it all in Toronto in 2008 and once again in Montreal four years ago. On the other side, world No. 7 Thiem is preparing for just his second ever campaign in Montreal.

Previously, the 23-year-old lost to Latvian Ernests Gulbis in round one in 2015. When it comes to Toronto, the rising player had a first-round showing in 2014 before losing in the second-round a year ago.

Vasek Pospisil on the change in momentum in his Monday night loss:

“I don’t know what happened but it just kind of went quick. I mean, it’s one of those matches to forget, to be honest. […] I feel, like, for a 10-minute period there, I completely vanished into thin air.

Credit to him. He played solid. But definitely would have liked to have made him . . . I don’t know. I would have liked to have done a better job of being there, competing, playing my brand of tennis. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t my day for whatever reason. I can’t say it wasn’t my day because I started well. I started OK. Then just kind of shifted strangely.

I don’t know how many times that’s happened in my career, where it was like a bipolar, weird thing. Two completely different players for the first half of the match, then the second half.”

Pospisil on his doubles match with Daniel Nestor on Tuesday:

“Yeah, it will be very tough, for sure. Especially because of how the match went today. I hope I play better tomorrow for Daniel’s sake. I’ll just try to get some good sleep and try to bounce back”.

Juan Martin Del Potro on his first-round match against John Isner:

“Well, John can reach the finals in any tournament. He has a great serve. His movements from the baseline are getting better. It’s, of course, a tough first round for both. Could be a quarterfinal, could be a semifinal of any tournament.

But we played today and I was lucky to win tonight. Hopefully, I can get another draw in the next tournament because no one wants to play against John in the first round.”

Nick Kyrgios on what he likes about Montréal:

“I love it here. I think, you know, I find it, like, quite a strange city but it’s cool. It’s kind of cool. I like it.

I haven’t really explored that much yet. I’ve got some free time tomorrow. I enjoy it here, yeah.”

Kei Nishikori on his relationship with coach Michael Chang:

“We always talk about big goals, winning Masters and Grand Slams. I feel like, you know, still long way, but every year is getting closer.

He gives me a lot of good advice, good influence. I think, for me, he’s a great coach. He’s helping me a lot to get to next level.”

As a general rule, it’s the semifinals and final of a tennis tournament that really get people out of their seats. They are the moments when the best players leave it all on the court in the hopes of lifting the winner’s trophy.

At Rogers Cup, the frenzy starts a little earlier than usual. In the second round on Wednesday, fans will definitely get their money’s worth.

Centre Court will host three Canadians: Peter Polansky (versus Roger Federer) and Denis Shapovalov (versus Juan Martin del Potro) in the afternoon and Milos Raonic (versus Adrian Mannarino) in the evening session, which also happens to feature world no.2 Rafael Nadal of Spain.

On National Bank Court, Kei Nishikori of Japan and Gaël Monfils of France go head-to-head, followed by Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, German sensation Alexander Zverev and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.

Indeed, according to tournament director Eugène Lapierre, it is an unprecedented day of tennis.

“Yesterday, I wrote to the gang in Toronto and told them that I had been here a long time—about 23 years—but never seen anything like this,” he said. “There’s never been a schedule like this one, that we would need two centre courts.”

Mr. Lapierre said he was very happy with the early buzz, adding that Rogers Cup was known to get off to an exciting start.

“They [the players] like us because it often starts in the qualies,” explained Lapierre. “The arrive here and they’re impressed by the crowds. For example, on Tuesday night, Jack Sock was blown away. An American versus a lesser-known Frenchman and the stadium was full! Maybe if the match had been in the US, but, when he plays elsewhere, the crowds are smaller.”

Even Federer had only praise: “Crowd support was great. It wasn’t the closest match today but they were there for Peter when he needed the crowd. I thought that was really nice. And for me, they were there every step of the way. Last night at the Coldplay concert, just to see how the Montréal crowd is again. They were unbelievably loud. […] I feel like it’s the same here at the tournament. Maybe that’s also why I always put this as one of my favourite tournaments, favourite centre courts out there, because they show up in big numbers, they show up with excitement and passion. For us, to play, it’s very inspiring.”

To better include the local community and get more people interested in tennis, there are bleachers on court no.9 in Parc Jarry so passers-by who don’t have tickets can still see some great tennis.

“We wanted everyone who passed by and wanted to know what tennis is to have the chance to find out,” explained Mr. Lapierre.

On Wednesday, everyone will have the chance to see 16th seed Nick Kyrgios and the showdown between 15th seed Jack Sock of the US and former no.3 David Ferrer of Spain.

Not bad for a second round Wednesday at Rogers Cup.

Denis Shapovalov on how he felt walking onto Centre Court:

“I mean, there were a lot of people out there supporting me. First of all, I want to thank them. I don’t think I would have won this match without them. They’re so good. I’ve never been in an atmosphere so alive and so intense. Big thanks to them.”

Shapovalov on having Wayne Gretzky cheer him on:

“Obviously, in the match, I wasn’t focused on Wayne. If I had been, I probably wouldn’t have done well [smiling]. It’s great to have guys like this. He was, honestly, my biggest idol growing up. It’s great to have guys like this around my matches watching me, keeping an eye out for me.”

Alexander Zverev on his off-season training:

“Over the past three years, I always ended my season early to work on the physical. I’ve always done a month where I don’t even touched a racquet. I improved a lot. I put on about 10 kilos of muscle over the past three years. It gives me a chance to compete and beat the best players in the world in big tournaments. I think that was my main goal for the past three off-seasons.”

Ernesto Escobedo on his surprise when he was called up to play:

“I found out about five minutes before I went on court. I was having lunch and the director called me up and [told me] I got the lucky loser, and I was really shocked that I got it.

Of course, I was going to stay here until tomorrow but I was planning on traveling to Cincinnati on Thursday. Now, I got the lucky loser and I won so I play in the second round. I don’t know who I play tomorrow. I have no idea. I’m just happy to be in the draw.”