It was not all that surprising that world number one Jannik Sinner withdrew from the National Bank Open in Montreal, with the demanding schedule players face in the month of August. What was surprising is that Sinner has withdrawn from the 2026 Cincinnati Open too according to the Associated Press on Monday.
The reason for Sinner’s withdrawal is a right knee injury. We do not know specifically when Sinner injured his knee. He has not played an ATP match since beating Alexander Zverev of Germany in the final of Wimbledon by score of 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 last month.
We also will not see the world number two Carlos Alcaraz in Cincinnati either. Alcaraz is still recovering from a wrist injury he suffered at the Barcelona Open.
With the withdrawals of Sinner and Alcaraz, the number one seed in Cincinnati is now Zverev. However, the French Open champion was eliminated in the second round of the Canadian Open as he was beaten 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 by Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands.
Another interesting storyline is that we know that Novak Djokovic will also be in Cincinnati. The 39-year-old from Serbia will be the third seed. Djokovic is a three-time winner of the Cincinnati Open as he previously won the ATP Masters 1000 series event in 2018, 2020 and 2023. However, one must remember that the 2020 Cincinnati Open moved to New York because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Zverev, meanwhile, would like to see a return of one week tennis for the National Bank Open and Cincinnati. He believes the top players will then come back and play these tournaments and you will not see the high number of withdrawals.
