Jannik Sinner is on course to return to action at the Canadian Open as the defending champion has recovered from his recent illness, but there are question marks over the participation of several top ATP stars at the Masters 1000 event in Montreal.
World No 1 Sinner has not competed since losing in the quarter-final at Wimbledon as he first withdrew from the Swedish Open due to fatigue and he then pulled out of Italy’s Olympic squad as he was “strongly advised” by doctors to skip the Paris Games due to illness.
“I am saddened to inform you that unfortunately I will not be able to participate in the Paris Olympic Games,” he wrote.
“After a good week of clay training I started to feel unwell. I spent a couple of days resting and during a visit the doctor found tonsillitis and strongly advised me against playing.
“Missing the Games is a huge disappointment as it was one of my main goals for this season.”
The reigning Australian Open champion appears to be 100% again as he has arrived in Montreal for the ATP Masters 1000 event and has returned to the practice court.
“Good to start hitting again and looking forward to building from here,” he said in a post.
Sinner, who defeated Alex de Minaur in last year’s final, will be the top seed for his title defence, but it remains to be seen who will be second seed as the event could still be hit by several withdrawals due to Paris Olympics.
World No 1 Novak Djokovic has already pulled out of the tournament as he is still in action at Roland Garros while Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Tommy Paul are some of the other big-name players still alive in the draw.
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Those who reach the medal matches will face a mad rush from Paris to Canada if they are to compete in Montreal, which is the first big event of the North American hard-court swing.
There is also the fact that the Paris Games are played on clay while the Canadian Open takes place on an outdoor hard court, leaving players with very little time to practice on the surface ahead of their opening rounds.
The players who do end up competing will hardly have any time to prepare with the main draw getting underway on August 6 although the top eight seeds will have a bye into the second round.
As things stand, Sinner, Alcaraz, Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, De Minaur, Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud and Grigor Dimitrov are set to be the top eight seeds.
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