Tennis players stop traffic in Toronto

Soon after arriving in Toronto for  this week’s Rogers Cup, Ana Ivanovic took part in an impromptu hit with world No.8 Caroline Wozniacki in the middle of the street. The “Street Tennis” event was put on by women’s tennis’ title sponsor Sony Ericsson at Yonge Street, which is the longest in the entire country.

“The Rogers Cup in Toronto is one of my favorite stops during the US Open Series,” said Ana. “I won this event three years ago and it is always nice to be back in Canada.

“I was thrilled to have a chance to participate in the Sony Ericsson “Street Tennis” stunt with Caroline. It is always exciting to be able to bring the sport of tennis to new audiences and we definitely had fun, taking people on the streets of Toronto by a huge surprise.”

Wozniacki, from Denmark, was equally excited about the event. “I was thrilled to have an opportunity to participate in “Street Tennis” with Ana and very impressed with Yonge Street in this beautiful city of Toronto,” she said.

“The court was laid out for us in a record time and playing an impromptu tennis match with Ana was really fun.”

Ana is a veteran when it comes to playing tennis in unusual but spectacular places: earlier this year she hit with Victoria Azarenka on the roof of the Villa Miami hotel in Rome, while last year she faced Elena Dementieva on a desert island in the Arabian Sea in Doha. She was also featured vaulting across rooftops in Sony Ericsson’s memorable “Never Miss A Shot” TV commercial in 2006.