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The Canadian Open was once one of the biggest events on the tennis calendar, but it’s become a footnote for many of the top players in recent years.
The tournament has been won by the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, and Novak Djokovic since 2000, but the last two years at least has seen players shun the event.
Novak Djokovic has not played the tournament since 2018, while Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s omission from this year’s event means they won’t have played the tournament since 2023.
That has tended to lead to more opportunities for lesser-ranked players at the event, with Ben Shelton and Leylah Fernandez landing the titles in 2025.
However, this year’s event has seen just as many lower-ranked stars drop out as top ranked stars, as the likes of Jack Draper and Holger Rune have joined Alcaraz, Djokovic, and Sinner.
Tomas Machac and Sebastian Korda have also confirmed they will not be playing the event, as they both try to recover from injuries that kept them out of Wimbledon.
The top seeds at the event on the men’s side will now be Alexander Zverev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Alex de Minaur.
Zverev is the only player of the top three seeds to win the event, but that came all the way back in 2017, when he defeated Federer in the final.
On the WTA Tour side, Karolina Muchova, who confirmed she would not be playing the event after undergoing ‘small surgery’ following her Wimbledon final appearance, will not be playing the Toronto event.
Tennishead are reporting that World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka will not be playing the event, although that is yet to be confirmed by the Masters event.
Muchova will be joined by Victoria Mboko and Hailey Baptiste, both of whom have suffered major knee injuries in the 2026 season.
Baptiste suffered and ACL and meniscus injuries in her left knee at Roland Garros, while Mboko suffered an MCL injury on her left knee after a fall at Queen’s.
