{"id":822157,"date":"2026-07-25T03:19:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T03:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/822157\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T03:19:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T03:19:22","slug":"top-players-jannik-sinner-novak-djokovic-withdraw-from-national-bank-open-in-montreal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/822157\/","title":{"rendered":"Top players Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic withdraw from National Bank Open in Montreal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/a\/assets\/texttospeech.svg\" alt=\"Text to Speech Icon\" width=\"44\" height=\"44\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Listen to this article<\/p>\n<p>Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n<p>The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n<p>World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic have withdrawn from the National Bank Open.  <\/p>\n<p>Tennis Canada announced Friday neither headliner will compete in Montreal after both players were included on the entry list for the ATP Masters 1000 tournament at IGA Stadium from Aug. 1-13.  <\/p>\n<p>Seven-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz had already been left off the player list as he continues to recover from a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/sports\/tennis\/carlos-alcaraz-wimbledon-withdrawal-wrist-injury-9.7204223\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">right wrist injury<\/a> that forced him to miss the French Open and Wimbledon.  <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;After carefully considering all the factors together with my team, we have made the difficult decision to withdraw from Montreal,&#8221; Sinner said in a statement provided by Tennis Canada.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is never easy to miss such an important event, but we believe this is the right decision to prioritize my health. I&#8217;m disappointed not to be there, but I look forward to returning to Montreal in the future.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>French Open champion and Wimbledon runner-up Alexander Zverev will now be the tournament&#8217;s top seed.  <\/p>\n<p>Montreal&#8217;s Felix Auger-Aliassime will be seeded second, making him the highest-seeded Canadian in the tournament&#8217;s history.  <\/p>\n<p>Sinner, Djokovic and Alcaraz \u2014 the three biggest draws in men&#8217;s tennis \u2014 also missed last year&#8217;s event in Toronto, when the 12-day tournament began just two weeks after Wimbledon.<\/p>\n<p>Tournament officials had expected fewer withdrawals this year, with the event starting three weeks after the All England Club finals, and expressed their frustration in a press release.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are obviously very disappointed that Jannik and Novak won&#8217;t be joining us in Montreal this year, especially after they also withdrew from last year&#8217;s tournament in Toronto. We respect their decisions and understand that, with such a demanding schedule, players&#8217; health must remain the priority,&#8221; said NBO tournament director Valerie Tetreault in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That said, we believe the frequency of these last-minute withdrawals in the last few years raises a broader issue for our sport. Masters 1000 events are among the flagship tournaments on the tour, and fans rightfully expect to see the world&#8217;s best compete.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Tetreault added that Tennis Canada is already in discussion with the ATP to &#8220;ensure this matter receives serious consideration.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We firmly believe adjustments are needed in the near future to better protect the integrity of our Masters 1000 events while remaining mindful of the realities players face,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>The 24-year-old Sinner and the 39-year-old Djokovic could return to action at the Cincinnati Open, with main-draw play beginning the day the National Bank Open ends, before the U.S. Open in late August. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-822157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}