MONTREAL — Félix Auger-Aliassime’s National Bank Open is over before it even started. In another major blow to the tournament, the top-ranked Canadian withdrew from his hometown event some two hours before his opening match Wednesday at IGA Stadium after hurting his back while practising. Auger-Aliassime arrived in Montreal two weeks before the event and said he had no issues until he felt a sharp pain during training Monday. “I had zero problems,” he said. “It happens sometimes. It’s happened for me in the past, but it’s just the timing — it’s tough, right, for it to happen here. “Essentially, I couldn’t serve, so it’s impossible for me to play at the level that the competition requires. So the decision is not complicated to make, but very difficult to accept.” Ranked fourth in the world, Auger-Aliassime entered the ATP Masters 1000 event as one of the favourites. His No. 2 seed was the highest ever for a Canadian at the tournament in the Open Era. The withdrawals of top-ranked Jannik Sinner and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic — with Carlos Alcaraz already out — gave Auger-Aliassime a favourable path to a deep run and put the spotlight firmly on the Montreal native. The 25-year-old was set to face French qualifier Titouan Droguet in the second round as he opened his bid to become the first Canadian man to win the singles title since Robert Bédard in 1958. Tournament organizers even moved the match back a day — after selling out Tuesday evening’s session — to give Auger-Aliassime an extra 24 hours to recover. “When I knew that the match could be postponed to Wednesday, I was very positive,” he said. “I thought I could play as if nothing had happened, because it’s a pain I’ve had in the past. Sometimes it lasts a few days, sometimes 24 hours. Once again this morning, with some medication, I tried to put myself in a mindset where I thought everything would be fine. “But I had to accept the reality now at three, four hours from the match that there wouldn’t be any miracles.” Auger-Aliassime was the last Canadian standing in the men’s singles draw after Denis Shapovalov and Gabriel Diallo retired with injuries Tuesday, while Liam Draxl and Duncan Chan dropped their first-round matches. The hits kept coming after Auger-Aliassime withdrew, as top seed and French Open champion Alexander Zverev fell 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-4 to Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands in his opener. “I expected not to play well this week. I played very well the last couple of months. I took a little bit of time off and practised then, but it’s a tough transition,” Zverev said. “I didn’t expect to play well. I also didn’t expected to play this bad, to be honest. “This was probably the worst match of the season.” In case those exits weren’t enough, fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev then dropped his second-round match Wednesday evening against Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands, 6-3, 7-6 (5). The tournament will now continue without any of the ATP’s top-six players — with eight more days still to play. National Bank Open tournament director Valérie Tétreault called Auger-Aliassime’s injury “pretty much the worst news.” “This year has been particularly difficult, we won’t hide it,” Tétreault said. “We experienced something exceptional last summer with Victoria Mboko. It seems like the opposite is happening this year … To see Félix face this situation is really the worst scenario.” Fans had crowded practice courts to watch the main attraction in the lead-up to his first match since pushing Djokovic to the brink in a five-set, five-hour quarterfinal at Wimbledon last month. Auger-Aliassime doesn’t know when that next match will be, saying he would undergo further tests Thursday, but remained hopeful after pulling out. “The word that comes to mind is a shame because I arrived in good conditions here in Montreal and I was ready to play in front of the Québécois crowd, so it’s sad, but life goes on,” he said. “The season goes on and I wish the best of luck to the tournament and to the whole organization so that the tournament is still a success.” Droguet was instead scheduled to face lucky loser Jaime Faria of Portugal in the second round, while sixth-ranked Alex de Minaur and 2025 NBO champion Ben Shelton suddenly became the tournament’s headliners. “I’m not going to lie, we were hoping that Félix was going to win at least a few matches here in Montreal,” Tétreault said. “There was a big hype on Félix. He’s definitely the player everybody was talking about, and people wanted to know when he was going to play. It’s pretty rare that we can announce a day in advance that we’re actually sold out for a session. “I’m confident that people are still going to come, are still going to smile. They’re going to enjoy themselves during the rest of the tournament. But I think we all need to give ourselves a little bit of time now to digest the news as well.” With files from Alexis Bélanger-Champagne. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 5, 2026 Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
