2026 ATP 1000: Montreal

H

helterskelter

G.O.A.T.
No thread on this yet, so here is one. A lot of absences, unfortunately.

Top 16 Seeds are:

1. Zverev
2. Auger-Aliassime
3. De Minaur
4. Medvedev
5. Shelton
6. Cobolli
7. Fritz
8. Lehecka
9. Ruud
10. Rublev
11. Musetti
12. Tien
13. Mensik
14. Vacherot
15. Tiafoe
16. F. Cerundolo

Round 1 is underway but a bit delayed by rain. Nice win for Monfils, in his farewell visit to Canada, against Majchrzak last night. I believe it was after losing in Toronto last year that Monfils decided to retire soon.

We can probably expect some late withdrawals, too, given the short turnaround from Los Cabos and, especially, Washington.
 
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helterskelter said:
Qualifying round, in the singular, on this occasion! That was bizarre.
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It was the same last year, just one round of qualifying in Toronto/Montreal. So there is a pattern, guess it's not a one off. While Cincinnati has 2 rounds. Its not uncommon for some 250s to only have one round of qualifying(like the WTA 250 that just ended in Memphis - a qualifier won the event - she only had to win one round to qualify)
 
Moose Malloy said:
It was the same last year, just one round of qualifying in Toronto/Montreal. So there is a pattern, guess it's not a one off. While Cincinnati has 2 rounds. Its not uncommon for some 250s to only have one round of qualifying(like the WTA 250 that just ended in Memphis - a qualifier won the event - she only had to win one round to qualify)
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It's rare in men's singles, though. Every event on the ATP tour this year to date has had at least two rounds of qualifying (exactly two rounds, apart from the slams). Doubles, by contrast, usually has only one round, often consisting of just one match, and some events don't have a doubles qualifying draw at all. An event as prestigious as Rome had no qualifying draw in doubles this year.

It's a problem to have a smaller qualifying draw, because the two weeks MS events already make the tour more top heavy by reducing the number of main draw slots available and this means that players ranked as high as in the 20s often play challengers during the second week of an MS event, whereas in the past they would have been playing a 250 or even a 500 during those weeks. That's one reason why, as I said to @mightyjeditribble recently, I think the tour ought to go back to one-week MS events and, if they really can't find a way of doing that, introduce 250s during the second week of the MS events, regardless of the logistical challenges that that entails.
 
Moose Malloy said:
It was the same last year, just one round of qualifying in Toronto/Montreal. So there is a pattern, guess it's not a one off. While Cincinnati has 2 rounds. Its not uncommon for some 250s to only have one round of qualifying(like the WTA 250 that just ended in Memphis - a qualifier won the event - she only had to win one round to qualify)
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We're talking about 1000 event. "Some 250s" that aren't popular more likely have such a trend; otherwise, even the Challengers and Futures hold a couple qualifying rounds before the main draw. How does Canada not give a chance to the players, even their own local players, to test the waters, qualies of the second biggest level pro tennis tournament in the world?
 
helterskelter said:
It's a problem to have a smaller qualifying draw, because the two weeks MS events already make the tour more top heavy by reducing the number of main draw slots available and this means that players ranked as high as in the 20s often play challengers during the second week of an MS event......
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Montreal and Cincinnati Masters are too close to each other and that has most likely been discussed in the upper offices of the sport. One thing is that they cannot do anything about the closeness of those two Masters; another that the Canadian tennis powers are so inept to assist their own tennis players that could fill in the qualifying rounds along a few willing outside top 100 ATP players. I really don't think there's an excuse for not filling in the qualifying rounds Acceptance List of this 1000 event.
 
TennisBro said:
Montreal and Cincinnati Masters are too close to each other and that has most likely been discussed in the upper offices of the sport. One thing is that they cannot do anything about the closeness of those two Masters; another that the Canadian tennis powers are so inept to assist their own tennis players that could fill in the qualifying rounds along a few willing outside top 100 ATP players. I really don't think there's an excuse for not filling in the qualifying rounds Acceptance List of this 1000 event.
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It's ridiculous to have one MS event finish the day that the next one starts, and all the more ridiculous when that means one event having its final on a Thursday. A prestigious tournament can't finish in mid week.

They need to think more radically about how to change things around, and not just tweak at the edges. But at a minimum, they could move the US Open back a week so that they had a few more days between MS events.

And, yes, they should have a fuller qualifying draw for the MS events.
 
Man, sad to see Draper so emotional at his inability to serve well in the 3rd. Not surprising with the injury riddled season, and likely substantial dent to confidence/ to gaining momentum. Feel for the dude- seems a long time ago when he won IW in 2025 and looked up for a good season. Atmane staying focused, serving it out to clinch the win.

Shaps retired in the 3rd, looked uncomfortable from the end of the 2nd set onwards. Like the dude Svajda - seems unassuming, has done well to come through some difficult family times and find form of recent.
Shang is hitting well, just took the 1st 7-5 against Rublev. Popyrin, former champion here,regrouped well after losing the 1st to Burruchaga, and is through.

Can't help feeling sorry for Tsitsipas to have to play the qualifiers. Dude's been beset by the doldrums-hope he can find a foothold and find good form again. GMP and BvdZ went to a 3rd, superb 6th game from BvdZ to break, consolidating the break and going on to win. Like GMP's shbh.
 
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helterskelter said:
It's rare in men's singles, though. Every event on the ATP tour this year to date has had at least two rounds of qualifying (exactly two rounds, apart from the slams). Doubles, by contrast, usually has only one round, often consisting of just one match, and some events don't have a doubles qualifying draw at all. An event as prestigious as Rome had no qualifying draw in doubles this year.

It's a problem to have a smaller qualifying draw, because the two weeks MS events already make the tour more top heavy by reducing the number of main draw slots available and this means that players ranked as high as in the 20s often play challengers during the second week of an MS event, whereas in the past they would have been playing a 250 or even a 500 during those weeks. That's one reason why, as I said to @mightyjeditribble recently, I think the tour ought to go back to one-week MS events and, if they really can't find a way of doing that, introduce 250s during the second week of the MS events, regardless of the logistical challenges that that entails.
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Just noticed there are 16 qualifiers in Montreal(from a 32 draw) while the other 96 draw masters have only 12(from a 48 draw). Maybe they feel that offsets having less rounds a bit.

I wonder what the cutoff date is for entry for qualifying. I see some players who qualified in Montreal played a challenger in Vancouver last week - Popyrin, Bonzi, Shimabukuro. If any of them made the semis or final in Vancouver, they would not have been able to play qualies in Montreal(SF was Saturday, F was Sunday - the days qualifying was held). Yet another reason these large draw events are problematic(there are no issues with Indian Wells, qualifying does not interfere with even challengers - they only start qualifying on Monday)

Challengers this week have decent fields, wonder how many decided to give a pass on Montreal qualies.
 
helterskelter said:
No thread on this yet, so here is one. A lot of absences, unfortunately.

Seeds are:

1. Zverev
2. Auger-Aliassime
3. De Minaur
4. Medvedev
5. Shelton
6. Cobolli
7. Fritz
8. Lehecka
9. Ruud
10. Rublev
11. Musetti
12. Tien
13. Mensik
14. Vacherot
15. Tiafoe
16. F. Cerundolo

Round 1 is underway but a bit delayed by rain. Nice win for Monfils, in his farewell visit to Canada, against Majchrzak last night. I believe it was after losing in Toronto last year that Monfils decided to retire soon.

We can probably expect some late withdrawals, too, given the short turnaround from Los Cabos and, especially, Washington.
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There are 32 seeds at the Masters 1000 in Montreal.
...
 
Moose Malloy said:
Just noticed there are 16 qualifiers in Montreal(from a 32 draw) while the other 96 draw masters have only 12(from a 48 draw). Maybe they feel that offsets having less rounds a bit.
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I bet the Montreal org hopes to squeeze the tournament but it doesn't have to do that with the qualies.
Moose Malloy said:
I wonder what the cutoff date is for entry for qualifying. I see some players who qualified in Montreal played a challenger in Vancouver last week - Popyrin, Bonzi, Shimabukuro. If any of them made the semis or final in Vancouver, they would not have been able to play qualies in Montreal(SF was Saturday, F was Sunday - the days qualifying was held). Yet another reason these large draw events are problematic(there are no issues with Indian Wells, qualifying does not interfere with even challengers - they only start qualifying on Monday)
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Now, I think the deadline to withdraw is 5 days prior to the main draw but there're exceptional circumstances allowed and that especially for the qualifying rounds. The deadline has been made for the main draw players so that tournament org doesn't lose revenues from the star players' matches. Popyrin's former champ of this tournament and I see the problem as he's had to play the Montreal qualifying round. Shapo also played last week in Mexico (final) although he's in the main draw (just lost); Jodar and Fritz also played in the US (final). The thing is that if the player isn't seeded and has to play R128, he may have to start on Monday-Tuesday the following week or give up Montreal if not in the main draw. In Popyrin's case, for example, he could've easily withdrawn from the Montreal qualies at any time, had he gone deep in Vancouver. This most likely isn't about the "cutoff date" but cut throat competition and players' in rankings like Popyrin demands from the ATP. Those kinda players just don't want to be left out from bigger tournament's qualifying rounds.

Having said that, however, there'd be an easy fix for those kinds of players (like Popyrin). Just given them bye in R1 of qualies. ATP 1000s need to have two round qualies for the opportunities not to be lost in lower rankings. Canadian tennis powers are well known for not caring for their talents. Even the coaches are so frustrated. Do not blame the Canadian weather but the few incompetent ones in their offices and their sponsorships. They can neither market the tournaments nor find suitable sponsors.

Moose Malloy said:
Challengers this week have decent fields, wonder how many decided to give a pass on Montreal qualies.
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That was the last week that had an easy fix and a bit of assertive management to show to some of the complaining players. If some of those players chose to pass on Montreal, qualies could've had two rounds and R1s with fresh talents. Would've been a win-win for both, the Americans across the border and young Canadians that are itching for opportunities. There are criminals in offices of Tennis Canada.
 
TennisBro said:
Montreal and Cincinnati Masters are too close to each other and that has most likely been discussed in the upper offices of the sport. One thing is that they cannot do anything about the closeness of those two Masters; another that the Canadian tennis powers are so inept to assist their own tennis players that could fill in the qualifying rounds along a few willing outside top 100 ATP players. I really don't think there's an excuse for not filling in the qualifying rounds Acceptance List of this 1000 event.
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I've always disliked how they are back-to-back. I feel like players put their energy into one or the other. I generally feel that Canada gets the short end of the stick as players from overseas decide to just wait to come over and play Cincinnati. Toronto in 2012 was gutted by Olympics coming right after Wimbledon.
 
Al Czervik said:
I've always disliked how they are back-to-back. I feel like players put their energy into one or the other. I generally feel that Canada gets the short end of the stick as players from overseas decide to just wait to come over and play Cincinnati. Toronto in 2012 was gutted by Olympics coming right after Wimbledon.
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I wonder whether the Canada final being on a Thursday is now part of the reason why players prefer to play Cincy. It must feel higher stakes to have a weekend final rather than a midweek final that is on the opening day of the next event. @Jonas78 - this strikes me as a plausible reason for why Sinner keeps withdrawing from Canada rather than playing Canada but withdrawing from Cincy if/when he goes deep in Canada.
 
helterskelter said:
I wonder whether the Canada final being on a Thursday is now part of the reason why players prefer to play Cincy. It must feel higher stakes to have a weekend final rather than a midweek final that is on the opening day of the next event. @Jonas78 - this strikes me as a plausible reason for why Sinner keeps withdrawing from Canada rather than playing Canada but withdrawing from Cincy if/when he goes deep in Canada.
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I dont know, but i think its mainly about preparing for USO. This year I think he wanted time for preparations between W and USO, and it was a pretty short break between W/Canada. Cincy is a nice warm up. Sinse 2024 Sinner also knows he likely reaches the final of every tourney he enters, so playing Canada likely means no Cincy. I can see him playing Canada another year, depending on the stretch between W/Canada and the need for HC preparations.
 
Jonas78 said:
I dont know, but i think its mainly about preparing for USO. This year I think he wanted time for preparations between W and USO, and it was a pretty short break between W/Canada. Cincy is a nice warm up. Sinse 2024 Sinner also knows he likely reaches the final of every tourney he enters, so playing Canada likely means no Cincy. I can see him playing Canada another year, depending on the stretch between W/Canada and the need for HC preparations.
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His current health shows the risk in playing the later tournament. He might now need to withdraw from Cincy, which means he'll end up with no matches on hard court prior to the US Open.

Still, he'd have had to withdraw from Canada, anyway. And, to be fair, his preference is clearly to play as little as possible, so not playing any warmups might be his personal preference. In future, he might just play the four slams to avoid overplaying (i.e. ensure underplaying)!
 
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helterskelter said:
His current health shows the risk in playing the later tournament. He might now need to withdraw from Cincy, which means he'll end up with no matches on hard court prior to the US Open.

Still, he'd have had to withdraw from Canada, anyway. And, to be fair, his preference is clearly to play as little as possible, so not playing any warmups might be his personal preference. In future, he might just play the four slams to avoid overplaying!
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:laughing:.

In the future i see him playing:
AO, IW, M
MC or Madrid, Rome (he is italian after all)
1 grass warm up, Wimbledon
Canada or Cincy, USO.
Beijing or Shanghai (or both. He might/should skip Shanghai if they keep playing in a sauna)
Paris
YEC

It seems its a lot of rumours regarding his health, it might just be a routine check up.
 
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Jonas78 said:
:laughing:.

In the future i see him playing:
AO, IW, M
MC or Madrid, Rome (he is italian after all)
1 grass warm up, Wimbledon
Canada or Cincy, USO.
Beijing or Shanghai (or both. He might/should skip Shanghai if they keep playing in a sauna)
Paris
YEC

It seems its a lot of rumours regarding his health, it might just be a routine check up.
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That's 12 events. It's way too many. Haven't you considered the risk that playing both Paris and the YEC will wear him out for the AO? He should play at most one of them!

Similarly, he should skip both MC and Madrid.

As I said, the ideal schedule would keep things simple: AO-RG-WI-USO.

An ambitious but possibly doable schedule would be: AO-IW-RO-RG-HA-WI-CI-USO-YEC.

Anything more would be too much! ;)
 
Jonas78 said:
It seems its a lot of rumours regarding his health, it might just be a routine check up.
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You could well be right. We'll see!

Calf is definitely out of Cincy, and that must mean that he could well end up out of the USO, too. I don't see him playing it without a warmup. Unlike Sinner, he's a player who prefers to play fairly often. Perhaps he will still request a wildcard for Winston-Salem, which would be a gentle way to ease back in. However, I think it's most likely that he will not play the USO, but just isn't ready to call it yet.
 
helterskelter said:
That's 12 events. It's way too many. Haven't you considered the risk that playing both Paris and the YEC will wear him out for the AO? He should play at most one of them!

Similarly, he should skip both MC and Madrid.

As I said, the ideal schedule would keep things simple: AO-RG-WI-USO.

An ambitious but possibly doable schedule would be: AO-IW-RO-RG-HA-WI-CI-USO-YEC.

Anything more would be too much! ;)
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Thats a little harsh :laughing:. After all he played AO, IW, M, MC, Madrid, Rome, RG, W and won all the masters. Its not like he played a reduced calender prior to grass season.

With the state of the tour sinse 2017 it actually also is a "problem" that he likely reaches the final of every tourney he enters, and then there is a risk of overplaying.
 
helterskelter said:
His current health shows the risk in playing the later tournament. He might now need to withdraw from Cincy, which means he'll end up with no matches on hard court prior to the US Open.

Still, he'd have had to withdraw from Canada, anyway. And, to be fair, his preference is clearly to play as little as possible, so not playing any warmups might be his personal preference. In future, he might just play the four slams to avoid overplaying (i.e. ensure underplaying)!
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Does Sinner need matches? I doubt it.
Alcaraz won the AO without lead-up events (and in 2024 Alcaraz won Roland Garros while not playing any of the lead-up events except for Madrid which he lost in the QF), and he's doing the same at this US Open, wisely using every minute to train for the US Open and not wasting time on Cincy press conferences and PR events.
 
Jonas78 said:
Thats a little harsh :laughing:. After all he played AO, IW, M, MC, Madrid, Rome, RG, W and won all the masters. Its not like he played a reduced calender prior to grass season.

With the state of the tour sinse 2017 it actually also is a "problem" that he likely reaches the final of every tourney he enters, and then there is a risk of overplaying.
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That terrible mistake in playing so many events is one he must never make again!

To my mind, the MS events being so long is the problem. If they were just one week each, then I think there would be no reason not to play all of them, even for a player who wins them all. Four slams + nine MS events + the tour finals + maybe two or three other events (*) is still only 16 events = about 88-93 matches if you make the final of them all, which I think is doable. That's assuming five-match MS events. With seven MS events (all bar Monte Carlo and Paris) being six-match events, it would be 95-100, so there would be a good reason to skip one of the non-MS tournaments, or perhaps one of the MS events.

But the extra half a week several times definitely does reduce the time to compress too much. It's just a bad idea in general - I also noted in other posts that it reduces slots in tour events, which harms lower-ranked players.

* For example, Halle + perhaps Beijing or Vienna (as it's in Austria) and perhaps a February event such as Doha or Dubai.
 
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Okay, so back to Toronto: early update for today is Fonseca up a set and a break against Tsitsipas, Borges up a set and two breaks against Etcheverry, Musetti up a set against Meija, Vacherot and Navone 1-1 in the third, and Bergs just broke to start the final set against Baez.

Looks like Fonseca, Borges, and Musetti should get the wins. Bergs in a good position, but time for that to change. Could go either way in the Vacherot/Navone match, but I expect Vacherot will probably win it in the end.
 
Borges gets the first win of the day, beating Etcheverry 6-4 6-2. A very open section of the draw: he plays Hanfmann next (Hanfmann beat Cobolli yesterday), with the winner playing Darderi or Shang in the R16. A good opportunity for all of them to make the QFs. I watched Darderi beat Borges in Bastad recently. Hard courts should be more favorable for Borges in the matchup, though: there's probably less difference between his ability on clay compared to hard than there is for Darderi (he beat Darderi on grass in Mallorca the week before Wimbledon). But it could go any way, I think.

Bergs with a second break and serving for the match against Baez at 3-6 6-3 5-2. Tsitsipas broke Fonseca when Fonseca was serving for the match! There are some things you just don't do, and dropping serve against Tsitsipas is among them.
 
Rublev blowing all of those Match Points stung. Wish he could have pulled it out, even though I like Shang alright. Watching Brooksby and Shelton now. Shelton up 4-3. Still on serve.
 
Shelton wins 6-3 7-5. It was actually a fun match to watch, since they have contrasting styles. Until Brooksby can get back to being his old consistent self, I can’t see him stringing together match wins. Just makes to many simple errors that add up, which he didn’t make in the past.
 
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