There is no rest for the weary, as the tennis tour continues with a Masters 1000 event immediately following the Paris Olympics. It’s the National Bank Open in Montreal, which continues the North American hard-court summer and precedes the Cincinnati Masters and the U.S. Open.
One player who is rested is the world No. 1. Jannik Sinner missed the Olympics due to tonsillitis, so he won’t have to make the long transition of clay to grass to clay and finally to hard courts. Instead, the 22-year-old Italian has not played since losing in the Wimbledon quarterfinals to Daniil Medvedev.
Sinner is the top seed in Montreal and–if healthy–is a clear title favorite given that both Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz have withdrawn (they are squaring off in the gold-medal match on Sunday). That’s not to say it will be a complete walk in the park to the title for the reigning Australian Open champion. Among the other contenders are Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Sinner’s path through the top half of the bracket could include Frances Tiafoe in the third round, Rublev or Tommy Paul in the quarterfinals, and Medvedev or Tsitsipas in the semis. There are really no easy draws for anyone; Tsitsipas is likely to meet Alex Michelsen in round two and Arthur Fils in the last 16, Medvedev possibly awaits Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in his opening match, and Tiafoe vs. Alejandro Tabilo is a first-round showdown.
The bottom half features a whole host of intriguing first-rounders: Ben Shelton vs. Alexander Bublik, Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Flavio Cobolli, Holger Rune vs. Milos Raonic, and Jack Draper vs. Jordan Thompson. Shelton, Bublik, Auger-Aliassime, and Cobolli are part of a deep but wide-open section in which Hubert Hurkacz is coming back from a Wimbledon knee injury. Grigor Dimitrov is the other seed with a bye in that quarter.
If the seeds hold to form, quarterfinal matchups would be Sinner vs. Rublev, Medvedev vs. Tsitsipas, Hurkacz vs. Dimitrov, and Zverev vs. Ruud.
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who ya got?
Dimitrov is the dark horse in this field. He’ll enjoy the lack of pressure that comes with not being among the favourites. With his experience and the resurgence he’s enjoyed late in his career, I give him every chance of winning.