First Serve - Canadians on the pro tennis tours this week

GRANBY – The big guns of Canadian tennis remain idle, with Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil (who would have been scheduled to play the ATP Tour event in Bógota, Colombia this week), rehabbing injuries and Genie Bouchard taking a break.

But just about everyone else in the Canadian game has descended upon this town about an hour east of Montreal, for a combined men's and women's Challenger that has seriously bumped up its prize money this year.

Last year, the total purse was $50,000 for the men and $25,000 for the women. That has been doubled.

Here are the totals: six women in the singles and nine in the doubles for the women.

(With five more playing in the final round of qualifying Monday, and two all-Canadian clashes, Katherine Sebov and Maria Patrascu got through to bring the total to eight).

For the men, there will be nine in the singles and 11 in the doubles. Among the singles participants are Frank Dancevic and Filip Peliwo, who played a couple of singles matches in vain this past weekend in Belgium in Davis Cup, where the Canadians were swept 5-0.

That's a quick turnaround on the travel, not to mention going from red clay to a quicker clay court.

(Eh Game will be down there periodically during the week, so we'll bring you any interesting stories that come up. To keep track of the Canadians' progress, bookmark this link.)

Spotted Sunday was Frenchman Vincent Millot, who is married to a québécoise. The last time we saw Millot, he was losing in the first round of Wimbledon to Pospisil. It must be quite a culture shock.

Also taking a wild-card into the event is Brit Laura Robson, who is recovering from wrist surgery and finally returned to action at Wimbledon after missing a year and a half. She hasn't played a tournament this small for more than three years, and also is in the doubles with Canadian Erin Routliffe.

These are the types of events that give Canadian players the opportunity to earn precious ranking points while not having to travel the planet. And the increases in prize money mean proportional increases in the ranking points available. So it's a great opportunity. The volunteer corps at this event put on a terrific tournament, and the last three days are broadcast live in Quebec on the French-language TVA Sports.