Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner will not be playing the Canadian Open for the second consecutive year and it’s left the Masters event lacking in star power.
Alcaraz is missing the event due to his wrist injury and he is expected to return to tennis a couple of weeks later at the Cincinnati Open.
Sinner, meanwhile, has decided not to play the Montreal event so soon after lifting the Wimbledon title, stating he is prioritising his health.
It’s left the Canadian Open in a sticky situation yet again, which many believe is down to the extended 12-day Masters format at the event.
Since the 2024 season, most Masters events were expanded to 12-days rather than the traditional week-long tournaments, much to the chagrin of the top players on the ATP Tour.
Sam Querrey and Steve Johnson, speaking on Nothing Major, believe the tournament don’t mind about the mass withdrawals as long as they are receiving the television money for nearly two weeks.
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“Do you think the Canadian Masters would rather have a 12-day long tournament without Carlos, Jannik, and Novak, or have a 7-day tournament with those three in? I swear, I think they would rather have the 12-day tournament without them,” said Querrey.
“I think they don’t care anymore. I think they’d rather take 12 days of TV rights in this. And I still think they don’t care. As bad as that sounds, I don’t think so.
Johnson was in agreement with his fellow podcast host.
“I’m with you. I wish it was a seven-day event and all these guys would play, but I don’t think the tournaments or the sponsors really care because they’re the sponsorship is done so far in advance,” he added.
“It’s not like they’re pulling funding now because these guys are these guys are out in my opinion.”
The top seeds at the Canadian Open this year will be Alexander Zverev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alex de Minaur, and Daniil Medvedev.
Novak Djokovic, Tomas Machac, and Sebastian Korda have also confirmed they will not be playing the Masters event.
Last year was the same, with Alcaraz, Sinner, and Djokovic opting out of the event, which was taken advantage of by Ben Shelton who lifted his first Masters title.
He defeated Karen Khachanov in the final, so he will be defending the full 1000 points at this year’s event.
As for the 12-day Masters format, it looks like it’s here to stay, with many tournament organisers and the ATP Tour praising the expansion, despite the protests of the top players in tennis.
The post The Canadian Open claimed to not care about Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s withdrawals appeared first on Tennis365.
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