The Canadian Open, thus far, has been an entertaining event on both the men’s and women’s sides.
However, the former was rocked in the run-up to its commencement, when three of its biggest stars pulled out.
Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic were the first two to withdraw from the tournament, before Carlos Alcaraz followed suit, leaving a huge opportunity for another player to potentially win this coveted Masters 1000 event.
There are clear reasons why this trio opted out of returning to Toronto, but it still remained a sore spot.
Now, we have learned what the tournament director thinks about this frustrating chain of events.
How the absence of Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic has impacted the Canadian Open
Speaking to the Canadian Open press, midway through the event, Nick Hale chatted with reporters with refreshing openness.
And, asked about these three key absences, he admitted: “Yeah, I mean, it’s a really good question. The good news is that Sunday was sold out, and nobody knew who the matchups were. So tennis is doing extremely well in this marketplace.
“We are obviously disappointed in the withdrawals, but we’ve spoken to the players. We have spoken to the tour. Andrea, the CEO of ATP, is coming this week, so we’ll have discussions with him about how to improve the situation.
“It’s a new 12-day model, so we’ll work through the process, but we’re very happy with it to date, and we’ll continue growing as we move along.”
Despite his withdrawal, Alcaraz has been seen working on two key areas during his time away from Toronto.
When will Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic next play?
When one of Alcaraz, Sinner and Djokovic goes missing from an event, it’s usually manageable because the others remain present.
However, when all three are absent, it creates many unhappy tennis fans.
After all, these are the top three players in the world, evidenced by their consistently deep runs at all Grand Slams this year, and by the fact that the two youngsters have shared the last seven major titles between them.
So, many would also like to know when we can expect to see them next.
It seems that all three will make their returns to tennis in Cincinnati, as the final opportunity to get some hard-court practice in before the US Open begins.
That begins on August 7th, with the final Grand Slam of the year then beginning just a few weeks later.
