Another star down: Carlos Alcaraz withdraws from Canadian Open

Carlos Alcaraz has announced his withdrawal from the Canadian Open, amidst a day marked by a mass exodus of tennis players from the tournament. The news was recently reported by Marca, which states that Alcaraz also decided to pull out of Toronto due to the demanding physical overload of recent times.

It had already been confirmed that Jannik Sinner, Jack Draper, and Novak Djokovic would not be at the tournament, meaning four of the top six players will be absent from the event.

Remember, the Canadian Open takes place from July 27 to August 7, and it's the first of two Masters 1000 events that serve as preparation for the US Open. Once the action in Toronto concludes, there will be no time for rest before the Cincinnati Open begins, just one day after the Canadian Open final.

After Cincinnati finishes on August 18, there's only a week's difference until the start of the year's fourth Grand Slam, the US Open. This means that for the world's best – who normally aspire to win titles or achieve deep runs – this part of the year can mean competing for a long time, leading to physical overloads. Spending practically three consecutive weeks competing – between Canada and Cincinnati – and with no time to rest before the US Open has led the world's best to prioritize a break in between.

The news comes at a time when Alcaraz and Sinner are starting to narrow the ranking gap, considering the significant points defense the Italian has, including titles in the Cincinnati Open and US Open, plus another 200 points from Canada.

On Alcaraz's side, he defends just 50 points at the US Open and only 10 at the Cincinnati Open. This means that the World No. 2, with only a handful of points to defend, could have significantly closed the gap with a good result in Canada – after it was known that Sinner would not participate in the tournament.

Everything seems to indicate that it will be decided at the US Open, where Carlos could potentially emerge as World No. 1 if Sinner has an early exit, although everything is still far from being defined. At least in terms of the Race, Alcaraz leads by over 1,500 points.

A curious situation will unfold at the Canadian Open – where Alexei Popyrin is the defending champion. The Masters 1000 tournament will feature only four players from the top 8, led by Alexander Zverev (1st seed) and Taylor Fritz (No. 4). Other big names leading the draw include Lorenzo Musetti (No. 7), Ben Shelton (No. 8), Holger Rune (No. 9), and Andrey Rublev (No. 10).