As the ATP Montreal Masters get underway on Monday, Daniil Medvedev will have the chance to further secure his precarious position as the world's top player.
The Russian won his first ATP championship of the season on Saturday at Los Cabos, Mexico, defeating Britain's Cameron Norrie. The Russian was barred from Wimbledon along with his compatriots and Belarusian players due to the invasion of Ukraine.
“The good thing about tennis is that in one week you can turn around your season,” Medvedev said in Mexico. “Coming here I had lost five finals in a row. That’s not nice. I wanted to do better.”
The 26-year-old will miss his two main competitors in Montreal.
Rafael Nadal of Spain withdrew after re-injuring his abdominal muscle in a training session, while Novak Djokovic of Serbia is unable to enter Canada owing to his absence of Covid-19 vaccines.
But after receiving a first-round bye, Medvedev might face a difficult challenge when he potentially plays Wimbledon champion Nick Kyrgios. By defeating the Argentine Sebastian Baez in his initial encounter, the No. 63 ranked Australian may advance.
Now that he is completely focused on his game, Kyrgios has established himself as a menace to the other players.
“I’m very proud of the work done and it shows the changes I’ve been developing in these six months,” he said.
Carlos Alcaraz, a teenager playing in his first tournament, is seeded second, behind Medvedev.
The 19-year-old Spaniard, who has already won two Masters tournaments this season in Miami and Madrid, will play his first match following a bye against the victor of the match between Tommy Paul of the United States and Vasek Pospisil of Canada.
Due to the absence of Nadal, the five-time tournament champion, the teenager will be vying for his fifth title of 2022 and will be the centre of attention for Spanish fans.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, the third seed, will participate in a match for the first time in more than a month, having last played in Kyrgios' Wimbledon third-round defeat.
The fourth-seeded Casper Ruud, last month's Gstaad clay champion who advanced all the way to the Canadian quarterfinals the previous year, follows the Greek.
The fifth seed, the well-liked Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, is placed ahead of the seventh seed, Jannik Sinner. Hubert Hurkacz of Poland completes the top eight seeds.
Andy Murray, a former top seed and three-time Canadian champion, will begin the match against US 10th seed Taylor Fritz as a wild card.