Zverev, Gauff named National Bank Open top seeds after high-profile dropouts
Tournament director Karl Hale is excited to watch the talent on display at this year's National Bank Open, even though some big names will be missing in action.
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Tennis Canada announced Germany's Alexander Zverev and American Coco Gauff as the top seeds of the men's and women's events in Toronto and Montreal on Tuesday, but neither player is the current world No. 1.
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Zverev, ranked No. 3, is moving up after top men Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz withdrew from the tournament to recover after Wimbledon. Sixth-ranked Novak Djokovic — a 24-time Grand Slam champion — and No. 5 Jack Draper won't hit the court in Toronto either.
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Hale, who manages the Toronto event, believes that opens the door for Canadians to succeed.
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'I've been the tournament director for 20 years, and the best tournament we ever had was 2019, Bianca (Andreescu) winning,' said Hale, who added that ticket sales are trending well. 'It opens up that opportunity for our Canadians, which we're really excited about it.'
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Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime is the 24th seed, one spot ahead of Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., who's coming off a tournament win in Los Cabos, Mexico.
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Meanwhile, up-and-coming Montrealer Gabriel Diallo slots in at 30th.
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'It's unfortunate what happened with some withdrawals,' Hale said. 'But we're in really good shape, still a great player field and we have great Canadians to mitigate.'
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The women's event in Montreal wasn't hit as hard, but No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka won't be there due to fatigue.
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The ATP and WTA events are mandatory 1000-level tournaments, one notch below the Grand Slams.
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'There's some disappointment there because we have a 1000 event, which is supposed to come with that guarantee of being able to offer the best players in the world,' said Montreal tournament director Valerie Tetreault. 'We were quite unlucky, especially in Toronto. In Montreal, for sure we would have preferred to have Aryna, and I think she's a very popular player, but I think there's still a lot of big stars.
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'In Toronto, for sure that hurts a little bit more.'
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But in the years ahead, Tetreault believes the dropouts won't be a major problem.
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This year's NBO, with an expanded main draw of 96 athletes instead of 56, runs from Saturday through Aug. 7, beginning only two weeks after Sinner defeated Alcaraz in the men's Wimbledon final on July 13.
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