The National Bank Open presented by Rogers is in full swing. Get to know a fun fact or two about the 19 players remaining in the singles in Montréal.
Jannik Sinner
Sinner used to be a skier (especially the giant slalom) in his younger days. The Italian once said it lessened his fear of playing tennis matches.
“When you go very fast and then you jump 20, 30 metres, you know, it's different. Then, I had this fear. And then in my mind in tennis, it’s nothing to be scared about, no? It's only a match at the end of the day.”
Alexander Zverev
With the Olympics ongoing…the German won the gold medal in singles at the 2021 Games in Tokyo, beating Novak Djokovic along the way.
Hubert Hurkacz
Hurkacz led the tour in aces last season, hitting 1,031 in 69 matches (averaging around 15 per match). He also leads the standings this year.
Andrey Rublev
Rublev has his own clothing company, ‘Rublo.’ All profits from his “Play for the Kids” collection are going to charity.
READ: Ruud talks Stamkos, golf...and tennis of course
Casper Ruud
Ruud’s dad Christian also played tennis, getting to a career-high of no. 39. He beat the likes of Grand Slam winners Boris Becker and Goran Ivanisevic in his day.
Grigor Dimitrov
Dimitrov is the only player inside the Top 10 with a one-handed backhand. Stefanos Tsitsipas, at no. 11, is right behind him.
Taylor Fritz
Fritz’s parents were both former professional tennis players, with mom Kathy May peaking at no. 10. Fritz grew up in California with a tennis court in his backyard.
Holger Rune
Rune played 99 matches in 2021 after a stellar junior. And they came at every professional level (ITFs, Challengers, ATP events and Grand Slams).
Alejandro Tabilo
The Toronto-born Tabilo’s phone started ringing during a match this year in Santiago against friend and occasional doubles partner Tomas Barrios Vera. Yes, he turned it off.
READ: After Disappointing Olympics, Nishikori upsets an upset Tsitsipas
Kei Nishikori
Nishikori owns the highest winning percentage among current players in deciding sets, either a third or fifth set (72.3 percent).
Sebastian Korda
Korda’s Grand Slam winning dad, Petr, reached the final in Montréal in 1991. He also topped the illustrious trio of Ivan Lendl, Andre Agassi and Jim Courier on Canadian soil.
Flavio Cobolli
The 22-year-old made his first career ATP final in Washington last Sunday, losing to Korda. He saved five match points in the second round against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina before capitalizing on his first opportunity.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
Davidovich Fokina hit an underarm serve at 8-8 in a fifth set tiebreaker against Rune at Wimbledon last year, losing the point and then the match. He led the first-to-10 tiebreaker 6-2 and had two match points earlier in the set.
READ: Doubles win for Medvedev means more dinners in Montreal
Nuno Borges
Borges netted his first ATP title on clay in Sweden last month…beating Rafael Nadal in the final.
Matteo Arnaldi
A year after Canada won the Davis Cup, Italy did it in 2023. Arnaldi won the first match of the final against Alexei Popyrin.
Brandon Nakashima
Nakashima played at the NextGen Finals in 2021, where he lost to Carlos Alcaraz, who ended up winning the title.
Alexei Popyrin
Popyrin used to live in Dubai and was a ball boy at the tennis event there.
Arthur Rinderknech
Playing at home at the French Open in May, Rinderknech had to retire in a match against Tomas Martin Etcheverry after he injured his left foot kicking a billboard in frustration.
Thanasi Kokkinakis
Like Zverev, Rublev and Nakashima, Kokkinakis has won a title in his hometown (Adelaide).
Featured photo by: Amélie Caron
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