Tennis fans woke up to another massive blow for the summer hardcourt swing when both Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic officially pulled out of the National Bank Open in Montreal. If you care about the health of the sport, this shouldn't surprise you at all. The 12-day format expansion for Masters 1000 events is punishing players, and tournament organizers are finally starting to speak out.
When the world number one and a 24-time major champion skip a premier event back-to-back years, you have a systemic crisis on your hands. Carlos Alcaraz is also missing from the mix while dealing with a lingering right wrist injury. Montreal is left holding the bag without any of the sport's top three box-office draws. If you enjoyed this piece, you might want to look at: this related article.
The Broken Math of the ATP Calendar
Let's look at why top players keep fleeing the Canadian Masters. Sinner carried a brutal workload through the spring, winning five consecutive Masters 1000 titles before hitting a physical wall with cramping issues at Roland Garros. He bounced back to defend his Wimbledon title by defeating Djokovic in the semis and Alexander Zverev in the final. Expecting him to immediately pivot to a grueling 12-day event in Canada right after a deep grass-court run is pure fantasy.
Novak Djokovic plays a completely different kind of schedule these days. At 39 years old, the Serbian legend preserves his body entirely for the grand slams and selected tier-one stops. He hasn't played a match in Canada since 2018, and his workload management strategy leaves little room for mandatory expansion formats that drag tournaments out across nearly two weeks. For another angle on this event, see the latest update from Bleacher Report.
Tournament director Valerie Tetreault didn't hide her frustration, pointing out that these recurring pullouts damage the prestige of flagship events. Fans buy tickets months in advance expecting to watch the best athletes in the world. Instead, they get a depleted field where high seeds pull out at the eleventh hour.
Why the Expanded Format Backfired
The ATP thought stretching events like Canada and Cincinnati into 12-day tournaments would elevate the prestige and mirror the grand slam feel. They were wrong. Analysts like Jon Wertheim have called the experiment a failure, noting that fans and cities deserve better than star-studded entry lists that dissolve before a single ball is hit.
When you lengthen a tournament, you don't give players more rest. You just demand more intensity over a longer duration, eating into precious recovery windows. Sinner's withdrawal also officially kills his dream of sweeping all nine Masters 1000 titles in a single season, a historic feat that remains out of reach because the body simply breaks down under the current regime.
Alexander Zverev now slides into the top seed position in Montreal, while local favorite Felix Auger-Aliassime becomes the second seed. While local fans will undoubtedly rally behind Canadian players, the global broadcast appeal takes a massive hit.
Where the Tour Goes From Here
Fixing this mess requires the ATP to listen to the people actually playing the sport. If players keep skipping mandatory-style events to protect their health, the rules are failing. Tennis needs a condensed, high-impact calendar that rewards peak performance without requiring athletes to compromise their longevity. Until leadership trims the fat and re-evaluates the 12-day Masters experiment, expect more top-tier withdrawals and empty marquee draws.
