The National Bank Open presented by Rogers is back.
Canada’s premier tennis tournament of the season hits Toronto and Montreal this week as the world’s top athletes will compete for glory.
It is one of the nine 1000 level events on the ATP and WTA calendar and a marquee tournament with the U.S. Open, the season’s final Grand Slam, just weeks away.
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz readies to play in Toronto for the first time, Milos Raonic makes a long-awaited return, Bianca Andreescu is poised for a run in Montreal, and numerous other superstars have their eyes on the trophy.
Here are five storylines to follow ahead of the action this week:
The Carlitos show touches down in Toronto
He’s the most electric and exciting tennis player Gen Z has ever seen, and now world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz is ready for his Toronto debut.
The 20-year-old Spanish superstar has already achieved the pinnacle of the sport, winning Wimbledon last month by defeating all-time men’s grand slam leader Novak Djokovic in a spectacular four-hour, 43-minute showdown that featured some of the most jaw-dropping tennis we’ve seen in 2023.
The title was his second career major and sixth of the season.
Alcaraz is the most complete player in tennis – he has a brutal and devastating baseline game with the most potent forehand on tour, deft touch, dazzling hands at the net, and an immense competitive spirit.
He leads a loaded top half of the men’s draw and is set to lead off the Wednesday night session at Sobey’s Stadium against either American Ben Shelton or fellow Spaniard Bernade Zapata Miralles.
Iga hits MTL, Sabalenka, Rybakina among title threats
Poland’s Iga Swiatek returns to Montreal as the women’s world No. 1 and it’s a rankings she’s become well accustomed to holding over the last 16 months.
The four-time major champion has held her reign atop women’s tennis for 70 weeks and counting and is coming off her fourth title of the season, emerging victorious at her home tournament in Warsaw.
Swiatek is just the third women’s player in Open Era history to tally 70 weeks or more in their first stint as a world No. 1, joining the likes of Steffi Graff and Martina Hingis.
She’ll be the woman to beat in Montreal.
Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus has given the closest chase to Swiatek in the rankings, and currently sits 645 points behind her.
The 25-year-old had her Grand Slam breakthrough at the front end of the season in Melbourne by winning the Australian Open and has since made finals in Indian Wells and Stuttgart, captured a WTA 1000 title at the Madrid Open on clay, and achieved semifinals runs at the French Open and Wimbledon.
Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina deservedly rounds out the top three of the WTA, with her runner-up finish at the Australian Open and titles in Indian Wells and Rome this year.
A quiet assassin with the best serve in the women’s game, Rybakina will line up against either Jennifer Brady or Jelena Ostapenko in her opening match.
Meantime, Czechia’s Marketa Vondrousova will compete in her first tournament since shocking the tennis world by winning Wimbledon as an unseeded competitor.
Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula lead the American contingent while 43-year-old legend Venus Williams was also given a wild card and squares off against compatriot Madison Keys in a mouth-watering first round clash.
Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki is also coming out of retirement and competing in her first event in over three years.
Wozniacki, a former world No. 1 and the 2018 Australian Open champion, memorably won the title in Montreal 13 years ago.
