Being an avid tennis player, it’s a family tradition at my house to make the trip to Toronto with my Dad and sister for the Rogers Cup—a professional tennis tournament that acts as a warm-up to the U.S. Open.

All the greats play for this championship. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic are regular participants. Generally aiming to attend the tournament at York University during second round matches, we usually get a chance to see some top 10 tennis on Centre Court and the practice courts.

What’s great about the Rogers Cup, besides being so close to Buffalo, is the accessibility of the players and athletes. You are never more than 20 feet away from top players warming up, practicing for their match and players are more than happy to sign autographs and meet the fans.

Our day started out watching Niagara Falls, Ontario native, Frank Dancevic take on Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan on Centre Court. It was a hard fought match, but Kukushkin came out the winner with a 6-3, 7-5 victory.

Heading over to the Grandstand court, we took in a match between the United States’ Mardy Fish in a contest against Australia’s Matthew Ebden. Fish claimed an easy 6-2, 6-0 win and has advanced to the third round.

The next part of the day was a memorable one. Although they weren’t playing that day, U.S. Olympic gold medalists, Mike and Bob Bryan were at the practice courts doing a warm-up for their match on Wednesday. Right off the plane from London, the twin brothers and Mens Doubles champions stopped and chatted with fans, took photos, signed autographs and gave me some great advice for my forehand.

Also hitting up the practice courts on Tuesday was tournament number 1 and fan favorite, Novak Djokovic. He was hitting with countryman, Janko Tipsarević who also hails from Serbia. Djokovic was also featured on the Rogers Cup bracket board that is displayed on the tournament grounds—he was the 2011 champion.

After a delicious dinner at the tennis lounge, we walked back to Centre Court to catch the final two matches of the night. A highly anticipated contest, Germany’s Tommy Haas took on David Nalbandian from Argentina. Both veteran players, the guys battled out 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 match with Haas as the victor.

Finally, hitting the courts for the last match of the day was the United States’ John Isner and Pablo Andujar from Spain. The American, coming off an Olympic team run, played an incredibly evenly matched up game, but Isner (currently ranked 9th in the world) pulled out the win. The 6’9’’ giant used his height to his advantage with numerous aces and the ability to almost cover the entire court.

Overall, this was another incredibly successful trip and I’m already looking forward to watching the women from the WTA tour play in Toronto next year. Great such as Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters among others will be in town.

You can still catch some of the tennis action until August 12. For more information on matches and tickets, head over to the Rogers Cup website.