2023 National Bank Open Toronto Players: Meet…

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The men of the ATP Tour return to Toronto this summer for the National Bank Open. The field is expected to be led by the Top 10 men in the rankings.

2023 will be the first normal National Bank Open in Toronto in five years after COVID delayed and then put limitations on the men’s most recent trip to Ontario’s capital.

Nine of the ATP's Top Ten are expected to compete next month. For the next three weeks, we will be highlighting players who are expected to be competing in Toronto at the beginning of August.

Ahead of the 2023 event, let’s meet the ATP Top 10.

Carlos Alcaraz

Age: 20
Current Ranking: 1
Career-High: 1
NBO Appearance: 2^nd
Best NBO Result: R2
Most Recent NBO Result: R2 (2022)
2023 Record: 47-4
Career NBO Record: 0-1

Not since Rafael Nadal nearly 20 years ago has a youngster not just received so much hype, but lived up to it as Carlos Alcaraz.

Being the first man born in the 2000s to win a Slam and the youngest every world No. 1 are already a part of the young gun’s building legacy. Not to mention more highlight-reel shots than anyone can count. Alcaraz looks like their heir-apparent to the Big Three that fans have been waiting for.

He is currently the reigning US Open champion and added major No. 2 last week with a dramatic first title at Wimbledon.

He prefers to be called “Carlitos” or “Charlie” because he finds “Carlos” too serious.

Alcaraz will make his debut in Toronto during the Wednesday night session at the National Bank Open this August. Get your tickets to see the Wimbledon champion now!

Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the National Bank Open.

Daniil Medvedev

Age: 27
Current Ranking: 3
Career-High: 1
NBO Appearance: 6^th
Best NBO Result: Champion (2021)
Most Recent NBO Result: R2 (2022)
2023 Record: 46-9
Career NBO Record: 11-4

Medvedev is the defending Toronto champion, having won the event the last time the men came to the Ontario capital.

After a down year in 2022, the self-described “hard-court specialist” has been back to his peak this year, having reached the final of both hard-court Masters 1000 events earlier in the season and is coming off a strong run on grass at Wimbledon.

Before choosing to focus on tennis, Medvedev studied commerce and economics at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

Casper Ruud

Age: 24
Current Ranking: 4
Career-High: 2
NBO Appearance: 3^rd
Best NBO Result: SF (2022)
Most Recent NBO Result: SF (2022)
2023 Record: 23-13
Career NBO Record: 5-2

It’s been an up-and-down season for the only Norwegian to ever win a title on the ATP Tour, but he has been showing signs of improvement over recent months, including a run to the Roland-Garros final.

Ruud has reached three Grand Slam finals since the start of 2022, the second-most after Novak Djokovic over that span. Last year he became the first person not named Nadal or Roger Federer to win the ATP’s sportsmanship award since 2003.

One of Ruud’s most famous fans is non other than Windsor, ON-native Shania Twain.

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Age: 24
Current Ranking: 5
Career-High: 3
NBO Appearance: 5^th
Best NBO Result: Runner-Up (2018)
Most Recent NBO Result: R2 (2022)
2023 Record: 35-13
Career NBO Record: 8-4

Tsitsipas returns the site of his breakthrough in 2018, when he reached his first Masters 1000 final as a teenager.

The Greek has been one of the most consistent players on tour since that run in Toronto and is a threat on all surfaces, having reached the French Open final on clay and the Australian Open final on hard courts earlier this year.

During his run to the 2018 final, Tsitsipas would spend evenings in Greektown in Toronto and visited the “Taste of the Danforth” festival, the largest street festival in Canada, which takes place at the same time as the National Bank Open.

Holger Rune

Age: 20
Current Ranking: 6
Career-High: 6
NBO Appearance: 2^nd
Best NBO Result: R2 (2022)
Most Recent NBO Result: R2 (2022)
2023 Record: 37-13
Career NBO Record: 0-1

Another rising star on the ATP Tour, Rune has gained a reputation not just for impressive results, but also his big and feisty personality on court.

The Dane has reached three of the last six Masters 1000 finals, including a title run at the Paris Indoors at the end of last year where he beat five Top 10 players, including Alcaraz and Djokovic in the final.

Rune got into tennis by going to watch his sister Alma play. She did not pursue the sport and became a model instead.

Andrey Rublev

Age: 25
Current Ranking: 7
Career-High: 5
NBO Appearance: 5^th
Best NBO Result: R3 (2021)
Most Recent NBO Result: R2 (2022)
2023 Record: 35-14
Career NBO Record: 1-3

One player primed for a breakthrough is Rublev. He has been a mainstay in the Top 10 since late 2020 and won his first Masters 1000 title earlier this year in Monte Carlo.

Rublev is known as one of the toughest competitors on the ATP Tour, a player who will fight for every point and will bring the intensity from first to last ball, including in practice. He often draws comparisons to Nadal in that regard.

Rublev is godfather to Daniil Medvedev’s daughter Alisa.

Jannik Sinner

Age: 21
Current Ranking: 8
Career-High: 8
NBO Appearance: 3rd
Best NBO Result: R3 (2022)
Most Recent NBO Result: R3 (2022)
2023 Record: 37-11
Career NBO Record: 1-2

Along with Alcaraz and Rune, Sinner is considered the third member of a potential future “Big Three” on the ATP Tour. Ever since winning the ATP NextGen Finals as a wild card in 2019, the Italian has been grabbing headlines and by the age of 21 and one month had reached at least the quarter-finals of all four majors.

His rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz has already become one of the most intense on the ATP Tour, with the pair producing classics every time they meet on court. This rivalry is widely considered the natural successor to the Nadal-Djokovic- Federer rivalries.

At age 7, Sinner briefly gave up playing tennis in order to focus on skiing, where he was a national champion in Italy in the under-8 category.

Taylor Fritz

Age: 25
Current Ranking: 9
Career-High: 5
NBO Appearance: 5^th
Best NBO Result: R3 (2022)
Most Recent NBO Result: R3 (2022)
2023 Record: 34-16
Career NBO Record: 2-4

Fritz’s dramatic victory in Indian Wells in 2022 was one of the big stories chronicled in the recent Netflix documentary series “Break Point,” as was his surprise run to the semifinals of the ATP Finals as an alternate.

Ever since making his tour debut at age 16, the American has been making steady progress up the rankings and established himself as a consistent player on tour. He has been the American No. 1 since the end of 2021.

In 2020, Fritz won a different kind of tennis tournament, a Nintendo Switch Mario Tennis Aces charity event, donating the $1 million winner’s prize to No Kid Hungry. He beat other tennis players including Naomi Osaka and the Williams sisters.

Frances Tiafoe

Age: 25
Current Ranking: 10
Career-High: 10
NBO Appearance: 5^th
Best NBO Result: R3 (2: 2018, 2021)
Most Recent NBO Result: R2 (2022)
2023 Record: 30-11
Career NBO Record: 5-4

The newest member of the Top 10, Tiafoe is a big hitter with an equally large personality to boot. The son of immigrants from Sierra Leone is one of the best entertainers on tour.

Last year, he had his best run at a major when he reached the semifinals of the US Open. He defeated Rafael Nadal en route, becoming the first American to defeat the Spaniard in a Slam in 17 years.

Tiafoe participated in the 2023 NBA Celebrity All-Star Game, helping Team Dwayne Wade to victory.

Come back next week when we introduce the Canadians who will be competing on home soil.

The ATP's best return to Toronto this summer for the National Bank Open August 5 to 13 at Sobeys Stadium. Tickets are on sale. Get your tickets today!