The men’s singles at the National Bank Open starting next week has already seen some notable withdrawals. The most high profile of these was from 23-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic. In addition home favourite Denis Shapovalov announced his withdrawal on Tuesday. Unfortunately, that list has been added too with the news that more players have had to withdraw from the Masters 1000 event in Toronto.
The players who have withdrawn
Karen Khachanov and Marin Cilic are two players not playing in Toronto. The US Open and Australian Open semifinalist Khachanov has not played since his quarterfinal loss at the French Open to Novak Djokovic. Khachanov did not play at Wimbledon due to a stress fracture in his back that he suffered at Roland Garros. It appears that the injury may be taking longer to heal than first thought. 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic is not just missing Toronto. The Croat announced that he will be missing the entire North American hardcourt swing. This is due to a setback from the knee injury that has plagued Cilic the entire season. The 34-year-old made his long-awaited return to action in Umag last week.
Last year’s Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios will be another absentee in Canada. This is not a major surprise. Kyrgios has been struggling with knee and wrist injuries all season. The two-time Washington champion withdrew from this year’s edition of that tournament, and not many were hopeful of his fitness chances for Toronto.
Botic van de Zandschulp was given a place in the main draw after defending champion Pablo Carreno Busta had to withdraw. Unfortunately, the Dutchman will not be able to capitalise on that opportunity. He has also withdrawn. This is likely due to the ankle injury that forced the Munich finalist to withdraw from Hamburg last week. There has been no official reason given yet though.
Finally, Roberto Bautista Agut is another absentee. The Spaniard was unable to defend his title in Kitzbuhel this week due to injury. It was reported that Bautista Agut suffered a freak injury from looking after his horses in Spain. Whatever injury occurred has yet to fully recover.
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Which five players come into the main draw?
Emil Ruusuvuori is the first player now in the draw. The Finnish #1 won two matches this week in Washington before being stopped by Grigor Dimitrov. It has not been a great year overall for Ruusuvuori thus far, but he will hope the opportunity given by those that have had to withdraw from the Masters 1000 event in Toronto can help him change his fortunes.
Gregoire Barrere is another beneficiary of the withdrawals. The talented Frenchman was beaten by Dan Evans in the second round in Washington this week. However, he remains close to his career-high ranking of #49 after a mostly good year and will hope to get there again with a good run in Toronto.
Aslan Karatsev is also now in the main draw. The three-time ATP champion lost to Frances Tiafoe in two tiebreak sets in Washington but can take encouragement from the level of his performance. North American hard courts suit his playing style, and he can trouble many when he plays his best.
Zhizhen Zhang played on the clay courts of Kitzbuhel this week but is in the main draw for Toronto next week. The talented Chinese player had been having a mostly disappointing season until his run to the semifinals in Hamburg last week. He lost to home favourite Dominic Thiem in the second round of Kitzbuhel this week. It will be interesting to observe whether he can transition quickly to hard courts.
JJ Wolf is the final man to enter the main draw. The American is still competing in Washington this week after progressing to the quarterfinals with a straight-sets win against Michael Mmoh. Wolf is playing some excellent tennis in Washington and will hope to build on his current momentum in Toronto.
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