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Ben Shelton shares his thoughts on Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz pulling out of the Canadian Open

Originally posted on HITC | By Matthew Johns | Last updated Jul 29, 2025 8:41 AM ET

Ben Shelton is seeded higher than many expected for this year’s Canadian Open, a position shaped by several high-profile withdrawals.

Shelton, who has reached a career-high ranking, enters the tournament as the fourth seed. The field in Toronto has been thinned by the absence of several top players, including world number one Jannik Sinner.

Sinner is one of four players ranked inside the top six to pull out. Carlos Alcaraz is another notable absence from the event.

Ben Shelton on the impact of star player withdrawals ahead of the Canadian Open

This year’s Canadian Open will see Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz, Lorenzo Musetti and Ben Shelton as their top four seeds.

Even with several high-profile players missing, including Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic, Shelton maintains that the tournament remains just as challenging.

“Yeah, I guess a sense of opportunity,” he said. “I think a lot of players probably feel that. 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 you know. I’m sure that the fans feel the same way.

“Some unfortunate pullouts of the tournament this year, four of the top six I think it is. But yeah you know there’s a lot of great players hungry in-form players who are looking to do some damage and yeah I think I’m one of those guys.”

“So we’ll see. It’s just as tough,” he added. “There’s so many great players on tour. It’s not like ‘Oh you know a few guys at the top aren’t playing so it’s free for all’. I think it’s still just as difficult and another opportunity to just get matches in and gain confidence going into US Open.”

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The Canadian Open has faced criticism this year after Frances Tiafoe called one major change to the tournament ‘garbage’.

Ben Shelton’s path to the Canadian Open title

As the fourth seed, Shelton will skip the first round and faces Adrian Mannarino, a qualifier and former top 20 player, in his opening match.

Nakashima has also lost all four of their previous meetings without taking a set. Other potential threats in Shelton’s half of the draw include Fritz, Tiafoe, and Flavio Cobolli.

On the other side of the draw, possible final opponents for Shelton could include Zverev, Musetti, Holger Rune or Casper Ruud.

Shelton has only won two of his four matches at this event before and hasn’t reached a Masters 1000 semi-final yet in his career. He’ll open his campaign against Mannarino on Wednesday 30 July.

This article first appeared on HITC and was syndicated with permission.

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