Toronto Masters tournament director Karl Halle absolutely wasn't happy with the absences of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz from this year's tournament edition and directly told both players to "make sure" the same thing doesn't happen next year.
On July 13th, Sinner defeated Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final for his fourth Grand Slam title. Shortly after their Wimbledon final, the top-ranked Italian and the second-ranked Spaniard announced they were pulling out of Toronto, which was scheduled to start on July 26th. To make it all worse for the Canadian Open organizers, Novak Djokovic and Jack Draper also decided against playing in Canada.
“As far as the top player withdrawals, it’s definitely not what we want," Toronto director Halle stated on the Nothing Major Show, which is hosted by John Isner, Jack Sock, Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey.
Halle: I told Sinner and Alcaraz to make sure they'd be in Montreal next year
As you all know, the men's Masters tournament in Canada rotates between Toronto and Montreal every year. Next year, the Canadian Masters will take place in Montreal. Although Valerie Tetreault is the tournament director in Montreal, Halle still wanted to make one thing clear to Sinner and Alcaraz during their conversation.
“I actually told them, because we were in talks when they withdrew, we talked to them for several days and then I said ‘Okay, we’re here… 2026 you’re gonna be in Montreal. Just make sure that happens.’ I’m very, very confident that they’ll be in Montreal next year and I don’t think it’s an issue because of what we’re doing with the tours and the bonus pools and all of those things and also the three weeks between our tournaments next year," Halle said.
Meanwhile, Sinner and Alcaraz kicked off their North American hard-court at the Cincinnati Masters and that will be their only tournament played leading up to the US Open.
