Winners and Losers 2024 Canadian Open featuring Jessica Pegula, Amanda Anisimova, Alexei Popyrin and Jannik Sinner

The Canadian Open came and went with both the men and women competing, so let’s look back and see which players were the ‘winners’, and which were the ‘losers’ after an exciting week of tennis.

After months of clay tennis and a few weeks of grass tennis, we’re back on hard courts, and we’ll stay there for the rest of the year. The Canadian Open is the first of the two major events leading up to the US Open, which is known as the US Open series.

The event is a combined event, meaning that both men and women compete in it at the same time. However, unlike most combined events, it has two host cities. The men are in one, and the women are in the other. The 2024 edition hosted the ATP in Montreal while the WTA played in Toronto.

It was a pretty exciting 10 days of tennis, so let’s look back on how it went and which players navigated the rain-plagued event best. On the men’s side, the winner ended up being Alexei Popyrin, who is one of our winners this week. We’ll get into more detail below. On the women’s side, it’s a repeat champion, as Jessica Pegula successfully defended her trophy. She’s also one of our winners, but we’ll get into more details below.

So we’ll start with the winners because history remembers the victors, which is why we have records of who won what event and when. We don’t really keep track of who made the semi-final or any of the lower rounds. On the men’s side, it was Alexei Popyrin, a first-time winner who had never won an event bigger than an ATP 250 before.

His first trophy came in 2021 in Singapore, and the Australian added another one last year in Umag. This was his third final and third victory, keeping his undefeated record in ATP Finals. It was a surprise run because nobody saw it coming. He’s been playing on a really solid level for a while now, but this was quite a step up for him.

It wasn't a fluke run, though, as Popyrin faced an incredible lineup of players, besting all of them and deservedly running away with the trophy. He bested Tomas Machac, Ben Shelton, Grigor Dimitrov, Hubert Hurkacz, Sebastian Korda, and Andrey Rublev. That’s no joke, and his efforts earned him a new career high ranking of 23rd in the world.

Another winner is Jessica Pegula, the women’s champion in Toronto. The American won the event last year as well, with an impressive run to the final, where she smashed Liudmila Samsonova in two simple sets. Her winning again shouldn’t be a major surprise because big names like Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina missed the event.

Gauff was fatigued, and Sabalenka was dealing with a shoulder injury and playing lacklustre tennis, so technically, she was the next in line to do something great. Her familiarity with such courts certainly helped her put together another impressive run and win the trophy.

However, what makes her a winner from this week is just a return to winning ways. Pegula missed a good chunk of this year due to an injury, and she hasn’t really played in that many events this year. As great and consistent of a player as she is, title runs aren’t that common for her, so being able to add another trophy is great.

It’s her 2nd this year after Berlin, and she’s certainly proving to be a name to watch in the coming weeks, especially at the US Open.

Rublev missed out on the trophy by losing to Alexei Popryin, but he’s still a winner. There are a couple of reasons why, but mostly, it’s just putting together a really good run. The Russian has been a steady performer for many years, but this year hasn’t been very good overall. He seemed more nervous than usual, and his result suffered because of it.

Outside of the Madrid Open run, the Russian hasn’t really performed up to his level, so making this final here could be a sign of better days for him. It’s a shame he wasn’t able to win it because it’s the second time after 2021 that he’s failed in the final, but overall, it was a really positive week on which he can build upon.

Amanda Anisimova is another player who had a really positive week despite missing out on the trophy. Like Rublev, the American made the final and failed to win the trophy, but the run itself is the most significant part. She returned this year after taking a break from tennis last year, and this was the first time in a while that she looked like peak Anisimova.

A run like this will certainly give her confidence for the upcoming weeks, and she’ll certainly add a few more good results until the end of the year. That could solidify her ranking further, allowing her to enter events easier. With more good performances, Anisimova is a player who could go all the way to the Top 10. She’s that talented, and this run proves that.

Hurkacz is a name we’ve heard of little lately, and that’s because he underwent knee surgery to fix a meniscus injury. It wasn’t a random injury because the Polish player was told that he might not compete until next year, but thanks to a successful surgery and lots of hard work, he was able to return only a few weeks later.

This was his first event back, and he did far better than he thought he would. The goal was just to play and see if he could play again, but he went on to make the quarter-final, losing only to eventual champion Alexei Popryin and in a very close match too. That’s pretty good for someone who wasn’t even supposed to play at the event.

Now, it’s time to look at some players who disappointed with their performance, and there are some big names in the mix.

Sinner is another player who just returned from an absence, though it wasn’t for an injury. He dealt with tonsillitis, and it’s this distinction that made people assume that he would go far in the event. He was the defending champion and wasn’t coming off an injury, so a final was in store, right?

Not quite, as the Italian was beaten by Andrey Rublev in the quarter-final, which was a surprising result. He also experienced some physical issues in the match, which isn’t good. Overall, it was not the best week from Sinner.

Another player who had a similar experience to Sinner in Cnada was Aryna Sabalenka. She declared herself fully healthy ahead of the event, but the shoulder seemed to be a factor again. Her performances were quite similar to the ones in Washington last week—quite unbreakable.

The Belarussian was expected to tear up the tour during the US Open series, but it’s not happening. Yes, she did have two really good wins, but the third match she played was pretty bad overall, and you’re kind of left wondering what kind of Sabalenka will show up at the US Open, where she played in the final last year.

Gauff was one of the few players who elected to play in Canada despite playing at the Olympics in Paris. The quick turnaround was always going to be pretty tough, and she admitted that expectations were low ahead of the event, but she likely didn’t expect to get smashed easily by Diana Shnaider.

The level was poor, but what was more annoying for Gauff was her approach. She wasn’t happy with it, and she’ll need to find a solution quickly, as she’s the defending champion in Cincinnati, and the US Open is not far away either.

Osaka was expected to do fairly well in Toronto due to the conditions and her admission before the event about feeling 'reborn' after stepping back on hard courts. It's her favourite and by far best surface so you can imagine that many were left disappointed when the American crashed out in the 2nd round.

She had no problems against an injured Ons Jabeur in the first matcg, but losing to Elise Mertens in two sets is not a good look for a player who hopes to rediscover her best tennis in the coming weeks. She’ll need to beat these players if she wants to be back in the Top 10.

A somewhat forgotten name once again failed to really do much when she was expected to do well. Fernandez reached the 2021 US Open final but has since failed to come remotely close to that level.

Some had high hopes that a return to her home country could spark a potentially great run because she is a player who feeds off the crowd a lot. She had massive support, but it didn’t work out that well for her, as she was beaten by Ashlyn Krueger in the second round in two sets.

It’s a continuation of a very up-and-down season for Fernandez, who remains one of the more talented players who can’t seem to figure out how to finally ascend to a level where she’s capable of many things.