Felix Auger-Aliassime withdrew from his hometown Masters 1000 in Montreal on Wednesday with a back injury, and by the end of the night the National Bank Open had lost the five highest-ranked men in the world. The Canadian, seeded second and the highest-ranked man in his half of the draw, pulled out roughly two hours before his second-round match against French qualifier Titouan Droguet.
He had arrived in Montreal two weeks early and trained without difficulty until Monday, when the pain arrived suddenly. Given an extra day when his opening match slid back, he tried to warm up on Wednesday and said he “basically couldn’t serve.” The decision, he said, was not complicated to make but very difficult to accept.
He said he would undergo tests to establish how the injury develops. Nothing has been announced about Cincinnati, which begins August 13, or about the US Open, where he reached the semifinals last year. Montreal would have been his first tournament since Wimbledon and his first since ending a decade-long partnership with coach Frederic Fontang, a vacancy he has said he does not intend to fill until after New York. He entered the week at a career-high No. 4, holding the highest seeding a Canadian has ever received at the tournament in the Open era.
His exit completed a collapse at the top of the draw that had been building for weeks. Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic withdrew before the tournament began, as did Carlos Alcaraz, who has not played since April. Alexander Zverev, the top seed and the reigning French Open champion, was beaten in the second round hours earlier by Tallon Griekspoor, the world No. 69, in his first match since losing the Wimbledon final. Six of the top 10 seeds are already out.
Most of that damage arrived in a single day. Daniil Medvedev, the fourth seed, lost in straight sets to Botic van de Zandschulp in the evening session, a second Dutch upset of a top-10 player within a few hours. Taylor Fritz, the seventh seed, went out to Argentine Thiago Tirante two days after lifting the title in Washington. Flavio Cobolli and Andrey Rublev had already fallen, Rublev after holding multiple match points in the third set.
What is left is a Masters 1000 without an obvious favorite. Alex de Minaur, Jiri Lehecka and Casper Ruud are the only top-10 seeds still standing alongside Ben Shelton, who opened his title defense with a straight-sets win over fellow American Jenson Brooksby. Shelton won here a year ago for his maiden Masters 1000 title and has now taken seven consecutive matches in Canada. The draw had been read as unkind to him when it was made. It no longer looks that way.
The clearing has been unusually good for American players. Alex Michelsen beat 16th seed Francisco Cerundolo, Learner Tien came through against Gael Monfils, Tommy Paul got past Valentin Royer and Frances Tiafoe recovered a set down against Marin Cilic. Brandon Nakashima advanced in straight sets. With three weeks until the US Open main draw, a hard-court Masters has turned into an unexpected points opportunity for a group of players who rarely get one at this level.
That is the part that will register beyond Montreal. Seeding at Flushing Meadows is set on the rankings of August 24, and a Masters 1000 shedding this many contenders in its opening week redistributes points that would ordinarily be locked up by the same handful of names. For the players still in, the reward is disproportionate. For those already out, the calendar offers one more event, in Cincinnati, to arrive in New York with any form at all.
For the tournament itself, in the second year of an expanded 12-day format built on the promise of more tennis and more access to the sport’s leading players, the first week has delivered the opposite. Auger-Aliassime was the last headline act it had left. He never hit a ball.
