The ATP 1000 action is back with the 2023 Canadian Open in Toronto, and the draw for the event has been released.
Running from August 7th to 13th, the 2023 Canadian Open in Toronto, also called the National Bank Open, is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the calendar, especially because it's the first big event in the lead-up to the last major of the season.
However, this year, the tournament will be held without some of the biggest stars. Most notably, world no. 2 Novak Djokovic withdrew from the tournament, but also the defending champion Pablo Carreno Busta will miss it, along with Nick Kyrgios, and home star Denis Shapovalov, who also withdrew from the tournament.
But even without all these star names, the event can still offer a very competitive field. That will be led by none other than the world no. 1 in the ATP Rankings, Carlos Alcaraz, who will play his first match since his historic Wimbledon triumph.
The Spaniard returned to the practice court only recently, and as the top seed, he'll be a big favourite to win in Toronto. Like all top-eight seeds, the 20-year-old won't need to play the first round, and in the second round of the competition, he'll play against either Ben Shelton or Bernabe Zapata Miralles.
On the other side of the draw is the second-seeded Daniil Medvedev, and the Russian will certainly want to avenge the Indian Wells final loss to the youngster, and he may get a chance to do that if he gets into the final. But to start with, he'll need to play a second-round match against the winner of the match between Vasek Pospisil and a qualifier.
Casper Ruud will be the third seed, and after playing two clay-court tournaments after Wimbledon, the Norwegian will once again want to prove his hard-court qualities. He will have a chance to do that already in the second round of the competition against either Jiri Lehecka or a qualifier.
The fourth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas will also want to prove that he has what it takes to win, and in his case, it will be an attempt to follow up on good results from Los Cabos Open. In the second round of the tournament, the Greek will await the winner of the match between Gael Monfils and Christopher Eubanks.
Holger Rune is the fifth seed in Toronto, and the young Dane already has one ATP Masters 1000 title from the hard court in his trophy cabinet. Now, he'll want to add another one, starting against the winner of the match between a qualifier and Emil Ruusuvuori.
Jannik Sinner is another youngster that will compete at the event, and the Italian was actually also present during the draw ceremony, so he saw that in the second round of the competition, he'll play against either Matteo Berrettini or Gregoire Barrere.
Some of the interesting first-round matches include the meeting between Milos Raonic and the ninth-seeded Frances Tiafoe, or the clash of the fourteenth-seeded Borna Coric and Grigor Dimitrov. To see the full 2023 Canadian Open Toronto draw, be sure to check it out below.
1. Carlos Alcaraz (1) |
2. BYE |
3. Ben Shelton |
4. Bernabe Zapata Miralles |
5. Qualifier |
6. Miomir Kecmanovic |
7. Alexander Bublik |
8. Hubert Hurkacz (15) |
9. Tommy Paul (12) |
10. Qualifier |
11. Alexis Galarneau |
12. Francisco Cerundolo |
13. Emil Ruusuvuori |
14. Qualifier |
15. BYE |
16. Holger Rune (5) |
17. Stefanos Tsitsipas (4) |
18. BYE |
19. Gael Monfils |
20. Christopher Eubanks |
21. Tomas Martin Etcheverry |
22. Sebastian Korda |
23. Grigor Dimitrov |
24. Borna Coric (14) |
25. Felix Auger-Aliassime (10) |
26. Qualifier |
27. Lorenzo Sonego |
28. Andy Murray |
29. Gregoire Barrere |
30. Matteo Berrettini |
31. BYE |
32. Jannik Sinner (7) |
33. Andrey Rublev (6) |
34. BYE |
35. Mackenzie McDonald |
36. Aslan Karatsev |
37. Adrian Mannarino |
38. Qualifier |
39. Milos Raonic |
40. Frances Tiafoe (9) |
41. Alexander Zverev (13) |
42. Tallon Griekspoor |
43. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina |
44. J.J. Wolf |
45. Qualifier |
46. Jiri Lehecka |
47. BYE |
48. Casper Ruud (3) |
49. Taylor Fritz (8) |
50. BYE |
51. Ugo Humbert |
52. Nicolas Jarry |
53. Gabriel Diallo |
54. Daniel Evans |
55. Alex de Minaur |
56. Cameron Norrie (11) |
57. Lorenzo Musetti (16) |
58. Yoshihito Nishioka |
59. Zhizhen Zhang |
60. Qualifier |
61. Vasek Pospisil |
62. Qualifier |
63. BYE |
64. Daniil Medvedev (2) |