Stars Ready to Take Advantage of An Opening in…

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The boys are back in town. With the North American hardcourt swing back in full force, most of the top players from the ATP Tour have returned to Toronto to compete at the prestigious National Bank Open presented by Rogers, which has been expanded to a 12-day format for the first time.

With the withdrawals of World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, the remaining players in this year’s field all feel a sense of opportunity to make a deep run at the first major Masters 1000 event of the summer.

“For me, I'm excited whenever it's a big tournament, no matter who is in it. And the more top players in it, the better,” No. 4 seed Ben Shelton told reporters during his pre-tournament press conference. “I'm sure that the fans feel the same way. Some unfortunate pullouts of the tournament this year … but, there's a lot of great players — hungry, in-form players — who are looking to do some damage, and I think I'm one of those guys.”

“I think it's still just as difficult,” Shelton added, “and another opportunity to just get matches in and gain confidence going into the US Open.”

Diallo Returns to Where It All Began

Two years after earning his first ATP main-draw win as a wild card, Gabriel Diallo returns to the six as a seeded player ranked inside the world’s Top 40. Returning to the same event where he broke through two years ago with a significantly higher profile is “obviously a good thing, but it comes with maybe a little bit more pressure and expectation around you,” said Diallo, who begins his tournament on Wednesday.

“I think that the expectation that I put on myself is the one that matters the most. Maybe sometimes it's too high, sometimes it's too low,” he added. “So, yeah, I think it requires a different approach to the tournament. There's a lot more media [requests] and stuff like that [here]. It's just going to be about being ready, and on game day, just compete as hard as I can, like I try to always do, and put on a good show for the Canadian fans.”

Diallo is also in the midst of another breakout year. Last month, he won his first ATP title at the Libéma Open in 's-Hertogenbosch, knocking out Ugo Humbert and Karen Khachanov along the way. After reaching the quarterfinals in Mallorca, he then took American Taylor Fritz, one of the most consistent Top 5 players of the last couple of years, to five sets at Wimbledon. Diallo believes those kinds of matches will ultimately benefit him in the long run.

“I think consistency is one thing,” Diallo said of what he needs to do to take his game to the next level. “Your base level has to be much higher, because I really believe that there's so much depth on the tour. You can play a guy that's 150 or 160, and if you don't show up on that day, he's going to upset you, because he's going to be looking forward to playing against you, he's going to be fired up. … You have to recognize when maybe in matches, your focus or whatever is slipping a little bit away; you have to recognize it fast. Navigating momentums, I think those things are the key for me to make the next jump.”

Diallo credits former Davis Cup captain Martin Laurendeau for helping him weather the difficult transition to the top of the sport. On the technical side, Laurendeau has helped Diallo become a more aggressive player — one who is not afraid to take risks and step inside the baseline, even if the outcome does not go his way.

“His influence has been tremendously important, not only on court but as well off-court, managing the tour, managing traveling, being away from your family and stuff like that, which he experienced as a player and as a coach for the last 200 years, I don't know how old he is,” Diallo joked. “No, for the last, like 30 years. I hope he's not going to listen to this! But I wouldn't be here without him, that's for sure.”

The Top Players Are Ready to Do Battle

Despite the quick turnaround from Wimbledon, the players who have made the trip to Toronto are all ready to use this tournament as a springboard into the last three months of the season.

No. 3 seed Lorenzo Musetti, who reached the semifinals of Roland-Garros, was particularly keen to get back to his winning ways after a poor grass season plagued by injury. No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz, who lost to Sinner in last year’s U.S. Open final, took some time after his Wimbledon semifinal defeat to Alcaraz to take stock of his own progress, and he now feels rejuvenated for one of the most crucial swings of his year.

“I think, even though I'm older than those guys, I'm still constantly improving and getting better,” Fritz said. “If anything, it's encouraging that I feel like I'm getting closer [to Sinner and Alcaraz’s level]. Obviously they're going to probably keep improving, but I've been moving in a constant direction for the last couple years, so I just need to kind of keep it up.”

That sense of rivalry has even extended to Fritz’s compatriots. Fritz, Shelton, Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul are all now ranked inside the Top 20. “There's definitely healthy competition,” Shelton said. “We're all friends, competitors. We all like seeing each other do well, but we all have our own ambitions and things that we want to do in the sport. It's been cool to just be a part of it, and see the evolution of all the American players on the men's side and how much better we seem to do each year. The women have been dominating for forever, and we're just trying to catch up.”

Sage Advice From One of the All-Time Greats

Following his shocking first-round exit at Wimbledon earlier this summer, three-time Grand Slam champion Alexander Zverev received an unexpected call from Toni Nadal, the man responsible for transforming his nephew, Rafael, into one of the greatest athletes of all time.

After chatting on the phone with Toni for an hour and a half, Zverev decided to take the coach up on their offer to train for 10 days at Rafael’s academy in Mallorca. That experience ultimately proved to be incredibly informative for Zverev, who was able to get advice from both Nadals.

“[Toni’s] a great coach, no question about that, but he's a personality that I think can give you a lot of confidence as well, because when he speaks and when Rafa speaks, you listen,” No. 1 seed Zverev said, revealing that he is still trying to convince Toni to schedule time to come watch him play in between his many commitments. “They definitely spent a lot of hours talking to me, and they gave me some great insight. Rafa gave me some great insight of what it actually is like to play against me, because he saw me as a player, [and] he saw me now as a spectator as well. It was very helpful, and we spent hours and hours talking, sometimes until past midnight [at] some dinners and stuff like that.”

Zverev, who won this title in 2017, will open his campaign on Tuesday evening against Australia’s Adam Walton.

The ATP's best return to Toronto this summer for the National Bank Open presented by Rogers July 26 to Aug. 7, 2025 at Sobeys Stadium. 2025 Tickets are on sale. Get your tickets today!

Feature Photo : Martin Sidorjak