D.C. Open in Washington saw its finals postponed due to rain<\/a>, the Canadian Open\u2019s two-city setup couldn\u2019t stop more delays.<\/p>\nThe ATP and WTA 1000 event rotates its men\u2019s and women\u2019s draws between Toronto and Montreal, and both venues saw cancellations Sunday. The men in Montreal completed just two matches, and the women in Toronto had barely any better luck.<\/p>\n
At 2:27 p.m. local, Venus Williams played the first point of the tournament against Uzbekistan\u2019s Kamilla Rakhimova. The weather meant only seven matches would be completed in the day session, including Williams losing 6-4, 6-1.<\/p>\n
Before the night session, the opening ceremony took place at 7 p.m., with an appearance from 2025 champion Victoria Mboko, who is unable to compete this year due to a knee injury. Hometown favorite Bianca Andreescu and Nikola Bart\u016f\u0148kov\u00e1 of the Czech Republic then walked onto the main court at Sobeys Stadium, only for the raindrops to return. After sitting in their chairs, the players stood up again and exited the court.<\/p>\n
What’s the most unpredictable sport?<\/p>\n
Tifo Sports<\/p>\n
Those initial spots turned to drizzle before intensifying further, forcing fans to huddle inside the concourse. At 7:55 p.m., tournament organizers canceled the night session, postponing the matches to Monday. A few stragglers snapped photos inside the stadium before exiting.<\/p>\n
For night-session ticket holders, the cancellation meant they never got to see any tennis. For the tournament, it meant refunding a whole lot of ticket money.<\/p>\n
Ilia, from Ukraine, and Lindo, from Portugal, who spoke on condition that their last names not be used, had traveled from Barrie, Ontario, a city one hour\u2019s drive north of Toronto, to be at the Canadian Open. For Ilia, it was his first time attending this tournament, while it was Lindo\u2019s second appearance.<\/p>\n
As they watched the rain continue to fall from the concourse, the inevitable reality was starting to creep in.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s disappointing,\u201d Lindo said.<\/p>\n
Although night-session ticket holders will receive a full refund because no matches were completed, many still missed the opportunity to experience professional tennis in person \u2014 an outing they had planned months in advance.<\/p>\n
For seven-time major champion Williams, who experienced a three-hour delay before her first-round match, it wasn\u2019t anything new.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe play outside, so you can\u2019t control the weather,\u201d she said in a news conference.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Lukas Weese<\/p>\n
How did a cult player perfectly adhere to their lore?<\/p>\n
Any tennis fans who came to the sport after the mid-2010s that were watching Bernard Tomic carve his way through the Los Cabos Open in Mexico last week might have been waiting to learn about the story of a resurgent Australian who has spent the past few years bouncing around ATP Challenger Tour events and qualifying draws.<\/p>\n
Tomic, 33, a two-time junior Grand Slam champion from Australia, is the definition of a tennis enigma \u2014 or less kind variations on that word for some.<\/p>\n
He was a much-heralded teen in the late aughts, and in an interview at the 2012 U.S. Open, now-deceased U.S. coaching great Nick Bollettieri spoke about how hard it was going to be to win Grand Slams during the next decade because of all the quality at the top of the men\u2019s game. He name-checked Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray \u2014 and Tomic.<\/p>\n
His ability to massage the ball around the court and suddenly switch into a higher gear made Tomic a danger to any player, but talent outweighed application \u2014 with accusations of tanking and one \u00a345,000 fine for it dogging him \u2014 and he never went beyond a Grand Slam quarterfinal.<\/p>\n
Still, he has persisted, two weeks ago winning a Challenger Tour title and saying in his on-court interview that he had been planning 2026 as his last year before retirement, but would have to reassess.<\/p>\n
![\"Bernard](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Bernard-Tomic-Tennis-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Bernard Tomic reached his first tour-level semifinal in nearly eight years at the Los Cabos Open. (Matthew Stockman \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
But instead of requiring a dive into the history books, Tomic duly produced his career arc in miniature, adhering to his lore as best he could.<\/p>\n
In Mexico, he entered the main draw as a lucky loser, despite having retired from his last match in qualifying with a stomach illness. Then he recorded the fastest ATP Tour win of 2026, dispatching Mexico\u2019s Alex Hern\u00e1ndez, 6-1, 6-1 in 46 minutes, before stunning No. 4 seed Karen Khachanov in straight sets with a vintage performance. He declined an interview request from\u00a0The Athletic in order to focus on the competition.<\/p>\n
And then he lost his semifinal against Cameron Norrie in 50 minutes, 6-1, 6-0.\u00a0The Athletic\u00a0tried to reach him again. Tomic has yet to respond.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Matt Futterman<\/p>\n
What could a rankings quirk mean for the return of a star?<\/p>\n
With the Canadian Open a week later in the calendar this year than last, players who did well in the 2025 tournament have seen the rankings points they earned drop from their totals before the 2026 event has started. This doesn\u2019t mean much for the event itself, but it does mean something for the possible return of a certain player named Carlos Alcaraz.<\/p>\n
Alcaraz, the seven-time Grand Slam champion, has been out with a wrist injury since April. He has now started hitting balls in earnest again, and a return at the Cincinnati Open, which starts Aug. 13, is set to be the prelude to his U.S. Open title defense at the end of the month.<\/p>\n
After missing two majors, the 23-year-old Spaniard had dropped from No. 2 to No. 3, with French Open champion and Wimbledon finalist Alexander Zverev moving above him. But Alcaraz did not play last year\u2019s Canadian Open, while Zverev reached the semifinals, and Zverev\u2019s 2025 points dropping from his ranking means that Alcaraz has returned to world No. 2 without playing.<\/p>\n
With the Cincinnati Open draw to be done before the Canadian Open\u2019s 2026 results are applied to the world rankings, Alcaraz would be the No. 2 seed there, in a resumption of the draw symmetry familiar to men\u2019s tennis fans before his injury: he and Jannik Sinner on opposite sides, waiting for a prospective final meeting.<\/p>\n
\u2014 James Hansen<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfc6\u00a0The winners of the week<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfbe\u00a0ATP:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfc6 Arthur G\u00e9a def. Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-4 to win the Los Cabos Open (250) in Los Cabos, Mexico. It is his first ATP Tour title.<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfbe WTA:<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfc6 Kristina Liutova (Q) def. Darja Vidmanova 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 to win the Memphis Classic (250) in Memphis, Tenn. It is her first WTA Tour title.<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udcc8\ud83d\udcc9 On the rise<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udcc8 Arthur G\u00e9a moves up 45 places from No. 127 to No. 82, a career high.
\ud83d\udcc8 Kristina Liutova ascends 103 spots from No. 229 to No. 126, a career high.
\ud83d\udcc8 Rafael J\u00f3dar moves up nine places from No. 24 to No. 15 \u2014 also a career high.
\ud83d\udcc8 Darja Vidmanova rises 20 spots from No. 112 to No. 92.<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udcc5 Coming up<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfbe\u00a0ATP\u00a0<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udccdMontreal: Canadian Open (1,000) featuring Alexander Zverev, Alex de Minaur, F\u00e9lix Auger-Aliassime, Ben Shelton.<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udcfa UK: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel \ud83d\udcbb Tennis TV<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfbe WTA<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udccdToronto: Canadian Open (1,000) featuring Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Linda Noskov\u00e1, Iga \u015awi\u0105tek.<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udcfa UK: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel<\/p>\n
Tell us what you noticed this week in the comments below as the men\u2019s and women\u2019s tours continue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome back to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where The Athletic\u00a0will explain the stories behind the stories from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":844144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,569,82,575,593],"class_list":["post-844143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-culture","tag-sports","tag-sports-business","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}