Jannik Sinner has been handed a comfortable draw for his Canadian Open title defence with the tournament lacking the three Paris 2024 medallists due to poor scheduling.
The ATP Masters 1000 was always going to be hit by withdrawals as the main draw starts only days after the conclusion of the Summer Olympics tennis programme leaving those who compete in the medal matches with very little time to travel from Paris to Montreal.
Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz will contest the gold medal match at Roland Garros on Sunday and they are the two highest-profile names to withdraw while Lorenzo Musetti, who won bronze on Saturday, is also absent from the draw.
There is good news for Canadians as local hope Felix Auger-Aliassime, who lost against Musetti in the third-place playoff, has made the dash from Europe to Montreal to compete.
With Djokovic and Alcaraz absent, Alexander Zverev has been bumped up to second seed with Daniil Medvedev third and Hubert Hurkacz fourth.
The top-two’s absence means Sinner is assured of staying at No 1 in the ATP Rankings after the tournament.
The Italian, who missed the Olympics due to illness, returns to action for the first time since losing in the quarter-final at Wimbledon and he opens his account against either Pedro Martínez or a qualifier.
The 22-year-old was ranked No 8 before last year’s tournament, but he went on to win the title and that set him up for an incredible end to the 2023 season.
“It’s just a different number. Me and my team, we try to make the process, our daily routine, to make everything in the best possible way and just try to be ready for every challenge that comes up,” he said.
“I’m very happy to come back here. It started off from last year semis of Wimbledon and then I came here for the first Masters event I won. I’ve been very consistent throughout one year and that’s at least what we will try to do in the next months also.”
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Sinner could potentially meet 15th seed Alejandro Tabilo or Frances Tiafoe in the third round while the other big guns in his quarter are fifth seed Andrey Rublev and 10th seed Tommy Paul.
If the seedings hold and Sinner reaches the semi-final then he could meet Medvedev although the third seed will most likely have to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-final. Medvedev takes on Alejandro Davidovich Fokina or Roman Safiullin in the second round while eighth seed Tsitsipas faces Kei Nishikori or Alex Michelsen.
The bottom half his headlined by Zverev and the second seed has a difficult opener as he will take on either British No 1 Jack Draper or Australian Jordan Thompson in the second round.
Zverev could face Holger Rune in the third round and sixth seed Casper Ruud in the quarter-final.
Fourth seed Hurkacz also finds himself in a tough quarter as he opens up against either Gael Monfils or a qualifier while he could face 14th seed Auger-Aliassime in the third round and seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov in the last eight.
Dimitrov, though, will likely have to get past 11th seed Ben Shelton in the third round.
