the Russian Daniel Medvedev, world number 1, and the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, number 4 and second seed, lead the list of contenders for the Masters 1000 of Montreal, which starts this Sunday with the losses of the Spaniards Rafael Nadal, due to injury, and the Serbian Novak Djokovic, for refusing to be vaccinated.

Medvedev, current champion of the tournament, will try to defend his crown against rivals like Alcaraz, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the Russian Andrey Rublev or the Italians Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini.

The main draw did not bring luck to Medvedevwho could make his debut against the Australian Nick Kyrgiosrecent finalist in Wibledon, in one of the best moments of his career.

Alcaraz faces the US tour with a brilliant record on fast surfaces this year, in which he won twelve of the fourteen matches he played, becoming champion of the Miami Masters 1000 and get to his compatriot Nadal in the semi-finals of Indian goods.

The Murcian, whose game adapts very well to this surface, has won 32 of his 44 matches played on these courts and was already a quarter-finalist on the US Open 2021.

His debut will be against the American Tommy Paul or the Canadian Vasek Pospisil, with a hypothetical crossing with Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals.

They are also on the side of your frame Tsitsipas, third seed and Jannik Sinner, who he fell to at Wimbledon and in the recent final of OMG, although neither of them can touch it before a hypothetical semi-final.

“Everything is going well at the moment, I like the weather, I like the track, at the moment I feel very good. I saw the draw, but only the first lap. Every rival is tough, so it will be a difficult first round, ”he assured. alcaraz In press releases published on Thursday by the ATP.

They will not be in the Canadian tournament Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal.

Nadal announced on Friday that he had resigned from playing in Montreal due to some “little inconveniences” he suffered while forming the service.

“Since the days of vacation and my return to training that followed, everything has gone well these weeks in terms of training and preparation,” Nadal explained in a statement sent to Efe.

“Four days ago I also started service training and yesterday (Thursday), after training, I had a little discomfort which was still there today. We decided not to move in Montreal and to continue training without forcing,” he added.

Nadal, winner of 22 titles Grand Slam, He assured that he had to be “careful at this stage and think about health”.

However, he was optimistic: “I hope to play again in Montreal, a tournament that I love and that I have won five times in front of an audience that has always welcomed me with great affection.

For its part, Djokovic will not be able to participate in this tournament, which he has won four times in his career, by not meeting the requirement of vaccination against the coronavirus laid down by Canada.

The Serb was also unable to take part in the Australian Open earlier this year for the same reason. ECE