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The National Bank Open expects to welcome nearly all of the biggest stars in men’s tennis one year after several top players pulled out of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament.
World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic headline the 96-player entry list for this summer’s event.
Tennis Canada said 71 of the ATP Tour’s top 72 players have entered the Aug. 1-13 tournament at IGA Stadium, with one notable absentee.
Seven-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz will not travel to Montreal as he continues recovering from a right wrist injury suffered in April that forced him to miss the French Open and Wimbledon.
“I would have loved for us to be able to announce that all the top players were going to be there, but we understand obviously that Carlos has been away from competition for quite some time already,” NBO tournament director Valerie Tetreault said. “The No. 1 priority at this time is for him to make sure that he can come back and be 100 per cent with a wrist injury that we know can be tricky.
“He’s only at the beginning of his career so I’m sure we’ll have plenty of chances in the future to welcome him to Montreal.”
The 23-year-old Spaniard, one half of a generational rivalry with Sinner, opened the year by winning the Australian Open to become the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam.
Sinner, meanwhile, is undefeated in ATP Masters 1000 events this season, winning six straight titles.
The 24-year-old Italian and Djokovic are joined on the list by French Open champion Alexander Zverev and top-ranked Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime, who is currently fourth in the world.
Sinner, Alcaraz, Djokovic and then-No. 5 Jack Draper all missed last year’s event, with the 12-day tournament staged just two weeks after Wimbledon. This year’s edition begins three weeks following the All England Club finals.
Djokovic hasn’t played in Montreal since 2015
Djokovic’s appearance, however, remains uncertain, Tetreault said. The 39-year-old Serb plays a lighter schedule in the twilight of his career and will make a decision after Wimbledon.
“I would say that it’s a question mark,” she said of Djokovic, who hasn’t played in Montreal since 2015. “It’s far from being guaranteed that because he’s on the list that he’s going to be playing this summer.
“He needs to be a little bit more selective in terms of which tournament he plays, always with the ultimate goal to try and win his 25th Grand Slam.”
While players such as Sinner and Zverev have already secured accommodations in Montreal, “Novak does not have rooms booked,” Tetreault added.
As the tournament’s third seed, Montreal’s Auger-Aliassime will be the highest-seeded Canadian in Canadian Open history.
Auger-Aliassime is coming off a quarterfinal exit at Wimbledon on Tuesday, falling to Djokovic in an epic five-set match that lasted five hours 15 minutes.
Tetreault believes people can dream of back-to-back Canadian titles in Montreal after teenage phenom Victoria Mboko stole the hearts of fans across the country with her championship run at last year’s women’s tournament.
“Why not?” She said. “I know that he followed the road and the journey of Victoria last year, and he was quite excited to see a Canadian win in Montreal, but I know he has that dream of winning here. And I think he’s going to believe in his chances.
“He’s going to come in with quite a bit of confidence. Yes, due to his ranking, but I think also due to the level of play that he’s been showing lately.”
Other notable entries include defending champion and world No. 5 Ben Shelton of the United States and Russia’s Daniil Medvedev.
Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., seeded 40th, also earned a direct entry into the main draw while No. 88 Gabriel Diallo of Montreal received a main-draw wild card.
The top 32 seeds will receive first-round byes at the $9.4 million US tournament.