Djokovic Leads The Field At Rogers Cup

July 24, 2016

The Aviva Centre at York University is the site of the sixth ATP Masters 1000 level tournament of the season, the Rogers Cup. This year’s field features eight of the Top 12 players in the Emirates ATP Rankings, led by World No. 1 and three-time champion Novak Djokovic, who is playing the tournament for the 10^th consecutive year. Other Top 8 seeds are: No. 2 Stan Wawrinka, No. 3 Kei Nishikori, No. 4 Milos Raonic, No. 5 Tomas Berdych, No. 6 Dominic Thiem, No. 7 David Goffin and No. 8 Marin Cilic.

2016 ATP Masters 1000 Finals: Djokovic has compiled a 21-2 match record while winning three of the first five ATP Masters 1000 tournaments this season:

Indian Wells

Novak Djokovic d. Milos Raonic

62 60

Miami

Novak Djokovic d. Kei Nishikori

63 63

Monte-Carlo

Rafael Nadal d. Gael Monfils

75 57 60

Madrid

Novak Djokovic d. Andy Murray

62 36 63

Rome

Andy Murray d. Novak Djokovic

63 63

ATP Masters 1000 Title Leaders: Djokovic is the all-time leader with 29 ATP Masters 1000 titles, winning at least three every year since 2011:

Player

Titles

Novak Djokovic

Rafael Nadal

Roger Federer

Andre Agassi

Andy Murray

Novak Top Seed Again: World No. 1 and three-time Rogers Cup champion Novak Djokovic is the top seed for the sixth straight year in Canada. Djokovic has a 30-6 career record in Canada, winning in Montreal twice (2007, ’11) and Toronto in 2012. He also was runner-up in Montreal last year (l. to Murray). He has a 19-3 match record in Montreal and 11-3 in Toronto. In the last five years Djokovic has won 18 of 21 Rogers Cup matches, with his losses in the 2013 semi-finals (l. to Nadal in a third-set TB), 2014 third round (l. to eventual champ Tsonga) and final last year (l. to Murray). Overall, Djokovic has advanced to the quarter-finals or better eight of nine years in Canada. Djokovic has held No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the past 108 weeks since July 7, 2014 and this will be the 209^th week (as of July 25) he’s ranked No. 1 in his career, the fifth-most in the history of the Emirates ATP Rankings.

2016 Update: Djokovic comes into Toronto with a 46-4 match record, including a sparkling 28-1 on hard courts. His only loss came to Feliciano Lopez in the quarter-finals in Dubai where he retired due to an eye infection. Djokovic leads the ATP World Tour with six titles, including his record-tying sixth Australian Open crown and first at Roland Garros. The 29-year-old Serb became the eighth man to win a career Grand Slam as he lifted the Roland Garros trophy for the first time in his 12^th attempt. He also became the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win four consecutive Grand Slam titles. His 30-match Grand Slam winning streak ended with his third-round loss to Querrey at Wimbledon on July 2.

Weeks at No. 1: Djokovic is fourth on the consecutive weeks at No. 1 list and fifth in overall weeks at No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

#NextGen Stars: There are five #NextGen stars (21 under in Top 100) in the Rogers Cup main draw, not including possible qualifiers (listed by age):

Player

Rank

Age

Taylor Fritz, USA

18 Years, 8 Months

Alexander Zverev, GER

19 Years, 3 Months

Borna Coric, CRO

19 Years, 8 Months

Nick Kyrgios, AUS

21 Years, 2 Months

Kyle Edmund, GBR

21 Years 6 Months

2016 Highlights: Four of the five players (except Edmund) have reached finals on the ATP World Tour, including Kyrgios, who won his maiden title in Marseille. Here is a look at each player:

2016 Best Result

Best Emirates ATP Ranking

Fritz

Runner-up: Memphis

No. 63 (June 13)

Zverev

Runner-up: Nice, Halle

No. 27 (July 11)

Coric

Runner-up: Chennai, Marrakech

No. 33 (July 27, 2015)

Kyrgios

Winner: Marseille

No. 18 (June 20)

Edmund

QF: Doha, Queen’s Club

No. 67 (July 11)

Zverev on a Roll: Zverev, who is the youngest player in the Top 50 Emirates ATP Rankings at No. 27, is appearing in his fifth ATP World Tour semi-final of the season on Saturday night in Washington (vs. Monfils). He has compiled a 32-17 match record, surpassing last year’s wins total (14). The 19-year-old German is making his Rogers Cup main draw debut and he opens against Yen-Hsun Lu. If Zverev advances to the second round, he will meet Raonic.

Milos on the Move: Top Canadian and No. 4 seed Milos Raonic is playing in his first tournament since becoming the first Canadian man to reach a Grand Slam singles final at Wimbledon on July 10. Raonic enters with a 37-9 match record on the season (17-3 on hard) and this is his seventh Rogers Cup main draw appearance (8-6). He reached the final in 2013 (l. to Nadal) and the quarter-finals in 2012 (l. to Isner) and 2014 (l. to Lopez). Last year he lost in his opening match after a first-round bye to Karlovic in two tie-breaks. In the opening week of the season, Raonic captured his eighth career ATP World Tour title in Brisbane (d. Federer) and followed with a semi-final at the Australian Open (l. to Murray in five sets). In addition to Wimbledon, he also was runner-up at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells (l. to Djokovic) and Queen’s Club.

Canadian Wild Cards: Raonic and No. 2 Canadian Vasek Pospisil, who reached the semi-finals in 2013 (l. to Raonic), are joined by four other countrymen, who received wild cards in the main draw: No. 190 Stephen Diez, No. 232 Frank Dancevic, No. 239 Peter Polansky and No. 371 Denis Shapovalov.

New Top 10 Face: No. 6 seed Dominic Thiem, who at 22 is the youngest player in the Top 10 Emirates ATP Rankings at No. 9, is the newest addition to the elite group. Thiem broke into the Top 10 on June 6 at No. 7 (from 15) after his semi-final at Roland Garros. He enters the Rogers Cup with four ATP World Tour titles and a 48-14 match record on the season (16-5 on hard). He leads the ATP World Tour in overall match wins and clay match wins (25) and is second in titles. He is the only player to win titles on three different surfaces (clay, grass, hard). He is looking for his first Rogers Cup win, having lost in the first round the past two years.

Goffin Eyes Top 10: No. 7 seed David Goffin is a career-high No. 11 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, highlighted by back-to-back semi-final results at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells (l. to Raonic) and Miami (l. to Djokovic). He also has advanced to five other quarter-finals, including Roland Garros (l. to Thiem) and ATP Masters 1000 Rome (l. to Murray). The 25-year-old Belgian is playing in his first tournament since a fourth-round showing at Wimbledon (l. to Raonic in five sets).

Nestor Ageless Wonder: Veteran doubles specialist Daniel Nestor is making his record 28^th straight tournament appearance. The 43-year-old Canadian will be teaming up with countryman Vasek Pospisil. They have an 8-6 career record together (5-3 in Davis Cup) and this is their first tournament pairing since 2013 Basel. They last teamed up in last year’s first-round Davis Cup tie vs. Japan (won in five sets). Nestor has a 43-25 tournament record, winning both titles in Toronto, in 2000 (w/Lareau) and ’08 (w/Zimonjic). He was runner-up in 1996 and 2002 (w/Knowles) and last year (w/Roger-Vasselin). Last month Nestor improved his title streak to 23 consecutive years by capturing the title in Nottingham (w/Inglot).

Outstanding Doubles Field: Top seeds and five-time champions (2002, ’06, ’10, ’12, ‘15) Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan are making their 16^th straight Rogers Cup appearance. Four of their titles have come in Toronto. They also were finalists in 2008 and 2011.

Bet and wins