Canada’s premier tennis tournament, the Rogers Cup, gets underway this weekend in Toronto and Montreal with lower-echelon members of the ATP and WTA tours playing the qualifying rounds to gain entry to the main draw, where play begins Monday.
Those who make it might have a better chance to advance deeper in the draw than in years past.
Missing on the men’s side, which is being played in Toronto, are defending champion Andy Murray (No. 2 in the world), Roger Federer (No. 3) and Rafa Nadal (No. 3).
With the Olympics on the near horizon, all cited fatigue or injury for their absence.
Still in the running are Novak Djokovic (No.1) and Canadian star Milos Raonic (No. 7), who made it to this year’s Wimbledon final before losing to Murray in straight sets.
The women’s half of the tournament, being played in Montreal, is also missing its defending champion, Belinda Bencic (No. 16), as well as Victoria Azarenka (No. 6), who withdrew because she is pregnant.
What that means for Montreal’s Eugenie Bouchard is anyone’s guess.
Bouchard reached the Wimbledon in 2014, when her ranking hit a high of No. 5, but has suffered through mental and physical problems since, falling to No. 41.
Whether she can re-ignite her career in her home town remains to be seen.
Two other Canadians to watch are Vasek Pospisil, who reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2015 but has slumped since, falling to No. 98, and 17-year-old Denis Shapovalov, who won the boys’ singles title at Wimbledon earlier this month.
Pospisil is a fan favourite in Canada and extra energy from the Toronto crowd could supply him with the needed energy to get his career back on track.
For a preview, RCI spoke with Yahoo! Sports Stephanie Myles, who also blogs at @OpenCourt.
Myles spoke from Washington, where she is covering the Citi Open, a men’s ATP 500 event.
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