Sebastian Korda and Tommy Paul withdrew from the upcoming 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters due to different reasons.
The 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters lost a bit of its 'star power' over the past few days but also probably a bit of interest from the North American audience. The series of withdrawals started with Rafael Nadal pulling out of the event, and the Spaniard was closely followed by compatriot Carlos Alcaraz.
Soon after them, also two biggest Canadian stars withdrew from the tournament. First, Felix Auger-Aliassime announced his absence, and after that Denis Shapovalov followed. Now, two more players from the North American region pulled out of the event, this time two Americans.
Sebastian Korda and Tommy Paul were both set to travel to Monte-Carlo Country Club, but different reasons changed their plans. While Korda is struggling with a wrist injury since he picked it up at the Australian Open earlier this year, Paul is still competing in his home country.
The American is playing at the 2023 Houston Open, or better said, he's yet to play. The tournament is drowning in rain and the second-seeded Paul didn't have a chance to play a match yet. In the second round, he's scheduled to play against Yannick Hanfman from Germany but that match won't happen until Saturday.
It's not clear why Paul made the decision to prioritize ATP 250 event over the ATP Masters 1000 tournament, especially when he'll have to play four matches in two days if he wants to win the event in Houston.
Maybe the 25-year-old sees an opportunity and a chance of multiple withdrawals and walkovers from the opponents as the tournament will be played in a very unorthodox way with two days remaining for the four rounds of the competition.
Yet, Paul can be still happy that he doesn't have the problems of Korda who played only two tournaments this year. Both were a success, but he couldn't follow up on those results because of the injury.
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