Jannik Sinner and Jack Draper: The unexpected partnership stirring Canadian Open

Jannik Sinner and Jack Draper are set to play doubles at the Canadian Open this week. Both 22-year-old players will have an unprecedented partnership in the doubles draw as they seek to gain more match rhythm at the start of the hardcourt swing.

Both Sinner and Draper will play their first hardcourt tournament since the Miami Open in March of this year. They will join other singles stars who have decided to pair up for this tournament in an attempt to get more matches and quickly get into rhythm for a demanding part of the calendar with the US Open Series tournaments.

A curious partnership will be experienced by the talented European players. Singles world No. 1 Jannik Sinner barely appears as No. 335 when it comes to the doubles ranking, while Draper doesn’t even have a doubles ranking, having lost all three doubles matches he has played in his career.

It remains to be seen how much they can achieve playing together despite being less experienced than most of the pairs in the draw. In fact, Draper and Sinner have been drawn against the Belgian specialist pair Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen (16th seeds), runner-ups in the 2023 French Open. The match is set to take place on Wednesday, August 7.

They won't be the only singles players in the doubles draw, as there will be several interesting partnerships, including Ben Shelton with Alexander Bublik, Andrey Rublev with Karen Khachanov, and Nicolas Jarry with Arthur Fils, among others.

However, the focus for Sinner and Draper will surely be on their singles performances. The Italian has a bye in the first round as the first seed and awaits the winner between Pedro Martínez and a qualifier in the Round of 32. In the case of the Brit No. 1, he will debut against the always challenging Jordan Thompson, and if he surpasses him, the second seed Alexander Zverev looms as his next opponent.