Bad news for tennis fans, as two living legends have pulled out of the Rogers Cup in Toronto that begins on Saturday.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will not be coming to Toronto.
“I have made the tough decision to withdraw from Rogers Cup,” said Federer in a media release. “Toronto is one of my favourite events on the calendar and I am disappointed that I won’t be able to compete in front of the great tennis fans in Canada. Looking ahead, it is best for me that I take more time after Wimbledon. I look forward to coming back to Canada next year and I wish Karl Hale and everyone at Tennis Canada a very successful tournament.”
Federer, who lost to Milos Raonic in the semi-final at Wimbledon earlier in this month, is choosing to rest during a busy tennis calendar. Unlike Raonic, Federer is choosing to play in the Olympic tennis tournament which begin August 6th.
Meanwhile, Nadal is not playing due to a wrist injury he suffered at the French Open.
“I am disappointed to announce I won’t be able to come to Toronto to play this year,” said Nadal. “I only started practicing a week ago after my wrist injury and I am not ready to play such an important event. I am very much looking forward to playing in Toronto in a couple of years since I have always been treated great in that tournament and have a lot of great Canadian fans.”
“Roger and Rafa are two of the most popular players in the world and not having them in Toronto is extremely unfortunate,” said tournament director Karl Hale. “But with current world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Canadian star Milos Raonic confirmed for Toronto, along with a host of other top ATP players, the calibre of tennis and entertainment will be world-class.”
Federer and Nadal join Andy Murray, who pulled out yesterday, as three of the top four players in the world that will skip the tournament this year.
See also
Here’s an updated look at the player list:
Seed | Player | Country | World ranking |
1 | Novak Djokovic | SRB | 1 |
2 | Stan Wawrinka | SUI | 5 |
3 | Kei Nishikori | JPN | 6 |
4 | Milos Raonic | CAN | 7 |
5 | Tomas Berdych | CZE | 8 |
6 | Dominic Thiem | AUT | 9 |
7 | Jo-Wilfried Tsonga | FRA | 10 |
8 | David Goffin | BEL | 11 |
9 | Marin Cilic | CRO | 12 |
10 | Roberto Bautista Agut | ESP | 15 |
11 | John Isner | USA | 16 |
12 | Gael Monfils | FRA | 17 |
13 | Nick Kyrgios | AUS | 18 |
14 | Bernard Tomic | AUS | 19 |
15 | Pablo Cuevas | URU | 20 |
16 | Feliciano Lopez | ESP | 21 |
17 | Lucas Pouille | FRA | 22 |
18 | Philipp Kohlschreiber | GER | 23 |
19 | Benoit Paire | FRA | 24 |
20 | Steve Johnson | USA | 25 |
21 | Jack Sock | USA | 26 |
22 | Alexander Zverev | GER | 27 |
23 | Martin Klizan | SVK | 28 |
24 | Sam Querrey | USA | 29 |
25 | Albert Ramos-Vinolas | ESP | 31 |
26 | Joao Sousa | POR | 32 |
27 | Kevin Anderson | RSA | 33 |
28 | Viktor Troicki | SRB | 34 |
29 | Ivo Karlovic | CRO | 35 |
30 | Gilles Muller | LUX | 36 |
31 | Alexandr Dolgopolov | UKR | 37 |
32 | Jeremy Chardy | FRA | 38 |
33 | Fabio Fognini | ITA | 39 |
34 | Grigor Dimitrov | BUL | 40 |
35 | Marcos Baghdatis | CYP | 41 |
36 | Andrey Kuznetsov | RUS | 42 |
37 | Federico Delbonis | ARG | 43 |
38 | Nicolas Mahut | FRA | 44 |
39 | Nicolas Almagro | ESP | 45 |
40 | Marcel Granollers | ESP | 46 |
41 | Borna Coric | CRO | 53 |
42 | Pablo Carreno Busta | ESP | 56 |
43 | Vasek Pospisil | CAN | 98 |
44 | Janko Tipsarevic | SRB | 408 * |
45 | Special Exemption | ||
46 | Denis Shapovalov (WC) | CAN | 371 |
47 | Wild Card | ||
48 | Wild Card | ||
49 | Wild Card | ||
50 | Qualifier | ||
51 | Qualifier | ||
52 | Qualifier | ||
53 | Qualifier | ||
54 | Qualifier | ||
55 | Qualifier | ||
56 | Qualifier |