Canadian Open’s Big Names Take a Pass for US Open Preparation

August 5- Kolkata, India: Some of the world’s biggest names in tennis, such as Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, and Jannik Sinner, decided not to participate in the Canadian Open this year. Instead, they chose to play in Cincinnati to catch up and get ready for the US Open. This decision disappointed Karl Hale, the director of the Canadian Open tournament.

This year, organizers expanded the Canadian Open, featuring a total of 96 men competing for the title compared to the last 56 seasons. Additionally, they extended the competition from 10 to 12 days. However, famous personalities like the current Rolland Garros winner Carlos Alcaraz and the current world no 1 Jannik Sinner, while Djokovic has also missed out on the tournament since 2019.

Karl Hale on the Absense of Djokovic, Alacaraz and Sinner

Karl Hale expressed his disappointment on missing out the famous tennis personalities but he later gave a statement about the issue which stated that “Obviously, we’re disappointed with the withdrawals. But we’ve spoken with the players, we’ve spoken with the Tour – Andrea [Gaudenzi] – the CEO of the ATP. He’s coming this week, so we’ll be having discussions with him about how to improve the situation.”

Despite being the second-oldest tennis tournament in the world, it is significant to highlight that the Canadian Open is not a part of the Grand Slam series.

Djokovic, Sinner and Alcaraz last played at the 2025 Wimbledon, where the Italian went on to beat Djokovic in the semi-finals and Alcaraz in the finals of Wimbledon, claiming his first Grand Slam title in his bag. Even though Sinner lost time to the Spanish Alcaraz in the Italian and French Open.