How did the Canadian Rogers Cup Masters become a burden for top players?

This year's Canadian Rogers Cup Masters, which is being upgraded to an ATP Super 1000 Masters event for the first time (with 96 entries, seven rounds of matches, and lasting 12 days), is unexpectedly in a rather awkward position as it is set to open next week.

This is because the three major stars in men's tennis—world number one Jannik Sinner, world number two Carlos Alcaraz, and world number six Novak Djokovic, a 24-time Grand Slam champion—have all announced their withdrawals from the tournament. Additionally, world number five Jack Draper, known for his good looks, has also decided to withdraw. This has left the Canadian Rogers Cup Masters, which has just been upgraded to a Super 1000 event, facing a dismal start, lacking star power. How unfortunate!

In fact, the ATP has clear mandatory participation rules for the ATP 1000 Masters series. There are nine ATP 1000 Masters tournaments held each year: Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome, Canadian Rogers Cup, Cincinnati, Shanghai, and Paris. All except the Monte Carlo Masters are mandatory events.

Players who meet the eligibility criteria can skip mandatory Masters events if they provide valid medical documentation due to injury, which is approved by the ATP. If a healthy player who qualifies for participation misses a mandatory Masters event, not only will they receive zero points for that tournament in the world ranking points system, but they will also face a penalty that prohibits them from participating in the highest-point Masters event of the previous season in the next season.

However, the ATP also has exemption clauses for mandatory participation in the 1000 Masters events: players over 31 years old, those who have participated in the professional tour for 12 seasons (with at least 12 events in their first season), and those who have played a total of 600 matches in their career. Players can be exempt from participating in one mandatory Masters event for each condition met. If all three conditions are met, they will no longer be subject to the mandatory participation rule for the Masters events.

With eight mandatory ATP 1000 Masters events throughout the year, how has the Canadian Rogers Cup Masters become a burden for top players? The Paris Masters has also long been a tournament with many absences from top players.

On one hand, the timing of these two events is quite awkward. The Canadian Rogers Cup Masters takes place two weeks after Wimbledon, and top players have not had enough time to recover from the intense demands of the first half of the season, including the clay and grass court seasons, especially with the back-to-back Cincinnati Masters coming up. Choosing to skip the Rogers Cup Masters in favor of participating in the Cincinnati Masters for preparation for the upcoming US Open is undoubtedly a better choice. Similarly, after the Paris Masters, there is the annual year-end finals, and top players prefer to take a break and rest to prepare for the finals, leading most to opt out of the Paris Masters.

On the other hand, as the year progresses into the second half, professional players often struggle with physical strain, and injuries begin to surface, which is also a significant reason for top players missing the Canadian Rogers Cup and Paris Masters. For instance, world number one Sinner, world number two Alcaraz, world number five Draper, and world number six Djokovic have all withdrawn from the Canadian Rogers Cup due to injuries.

The trend of opting for the Cincinnati Masters over the Canadian Rogers Cup has seemingly been established since the era of the "Big Four"—Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, and Murray.

Since winning the Canadian Rogers Cup Masters in 2015, British player Andy Murray has not participated in the event again; similarly, Djokovic has not returned since his victory in 2016. Federer last participated in 2017, finishing as the runner-up, and has not returned since; Nadal won the Canadian Rogers Cup in 2018 and 2019, but has since stepped away from this event where he claimed five titles, the most among the Big Four.

With the exit of the Big Four from the Canadian Rogers Cup Masters, it has provided other players with a rare opportunity to shine. In 2020, the Canadian Rogers Cup Masters was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic; in 2021, Russian player Daniil Medvedev won the title and subsequently claimed his only Grand Slam title to date—the US Open; in 2022, Spanish player Pablo Carreño Busta unexpectedly won the Rogers Cup Masters; in 2023, Sinner finally broke his Masters title drought at the Rogers Cup and began to shine brightly from the end of 2023; in 2024, an even more surprising champion emerged at the Rogers Cup, Australian player Max Purcell.

Which player will emerge from this year's dim Rogers Cup Masters to unexpectedly claim the final championship?

(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Seven Color Bean Powder)