American tennis player throws shade at Toronto in post-match interview

The city of Toronto was on the receiving end of a stray from an American tennis player during his post-match speech in Montreal.

Brandon Nakashima finished runner-up at the National Bank Open on Thursday night to his American compatriot Ben Shelton. When Nakashima was handed the microphone for a post-match speech to congratulate the now back-to-back champion, it took an unexpected turn.

"First of all, big congratulations to Ben on an incredible week. I think a lot of people don't realize how hard it is to go back-to-back, especially in different cities. It's simply incredible," the 25-year-old said.

Then Nakashima started thanking the crowd, and that's when the speech went sideways a little bit.

"Really enjoy here in Montreal more than Toronto" 😅

Nakashima sends the Montreal crowd into a frenzy! 🤣#NBO26 pic.twitter.com/qCo5umq7FP

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 14, 2026

"Big thank you to the whole crowd that came out [...] I'm gonna be honest, I really enjoy it here in Montreal more than Toronto," Nakashima continued.

"Unfortunately, we'll be back in Toronto next year, but I really look forward to coming back here in two years."

The Montreal crowd appeared to love what the American had to say and even broke out into an "Olé, olé, olé" chant the moment the comment came out of his mouth.

Though Nakashima's comment feels like it'll backfire, as he put it himself, he will have to play in Toronto next year.

Nakashima did not get into the details on his beef with Toronto or why he liked Montreal better, though we might flag an impeachment for bias to the chair umpire.

The proximity of Montreal's tournament to downtown just happens to be much closer than Toronto's, which is played 45 minutes north on the grounds of York University. Therefore, Nakashima would have likely had more time to experience Montreal during his downtime.

We get it. Montreal feels like a trip abroad, plus it has poutine, smoked meat sandwiches and St-Hubert, but does it have a beautiful Great Lake at its front door? Or hundreds of different nationalities spread out across the city?

When the champion, Shelton, took over the microphone, he made a subtle joke about Nakashima's eyebrow-raising post-match comments.

"I'm not gonna say anything bad about Toronto," Shelton said as the Montreal crowd booed. "I love Toronto, but I also love Montreal just as much."

Ben Shelton to the Montreal crowd after defending his title

"I'm not gonna say anything bad about Toronto. I love Toronto too!"

*crowd starts groaning*

"But Montreal just as much!"

😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/6w5Abyn216

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) August 14, 2026

The National Bank Open is a unique event on the professional tennis circuit, as it is the only 1000-level tournament in the world that alternates host cities for the men and women every year.

If there's one thing we'll give Montreal, it might be the more tennis-crazed city between the two.

Toronto set an attendance record with an estimated 240,000 fans at this year's WTA 1000 tournament, yet it was still about 70,000 below Montreal's numbers, despite the bilingual city missing top Canadian talent and several of the world's top-ranked players.

So, we'll let you have this one.