Why are top tennis players withdrawing from Canadian Open 2026?

Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic withdrew from the Canadian Open 2026 to significantly weaken the ATP field.

The Canadian Open faces an uncomfortably familiar problem. For the second consecutive year, the current three biggest ATP names in Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, and Carlos Alcaraz will all be absent from the ATP Masters 1000 event, despite organisers making a specific scheduling change aimed at preventing exactly this outcome.

Tennis Canada had pushed this year’s tournament back so it would begin three weeks after the Wimbledon final, rather than the two-week gap used in 2025, when the tightly packed calendar was widely blamed for a wave of top-ranked withdrawals in Toronto.

The extra week was meant to give players more recovery time, with the new schedule meaning the competition begins on August 2 and runs until August 13 in Montreal.

Instead, both Sinner and Djokovic pulled out from the Canadian Masters on Friday. On the other hand, Alcaraz, who is still recovering from a wrist injury, was left off the entry list entirely.

Both Sinner and Djokovic are believed to have withdrawn due to workload and scheduling concerns, as well as the proximity of the Canadian Open’s final to the Cincinnati Open’s start.

Tournament director Valérie Tétreault did not hide her frustration in a statement, saying:

“We respect their (Sinner and Djokovic) decisions and understand that, with such a demanding schedule, players’ health must remain the priority. That said, we believe the frequency of these last-minute withdrawals in the last few years raises a broader issue for our sport. Masters 1000 events are among the flagship tournaments on the tour, and fans rightfully expect to see the world’s best compete.”

He further added:

“We firmly believe adjustments are needed in the near future to better protect the integrity of our Masters 1000 events while remaining mindful of the realities players face.”

The trend stretches back further than this year alone. Sinner, Djokovic, and Alcaraz were all missing from the 2025 Toronto edition too, when Sinner cited an elbow issue, Djokovic pointed to a groin injury, and Alcaraz said that he had very little time to recover after playing the Wimbledon final.

With three of the sport’s biggest draws sitting out in back-to-back years, questions over the summer hard-court schedule’s placement on the calendar look unlikely to fade soon.

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