Singles draw has been made for the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Montreal, the sixth Masters tournament of the year (August 10-16).
After a month off, the Australian Open and Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic begins his North American summer hard court season in the second-largest city in Canada.
The world no.1 is a top seed and has a first-round BYE. He will open his campaign against Thomaz Bellucci (3-0) on Tuesday about 18:15 local time (Wed. 00:15 CET).
Novak’s potential rivals in the later stages of the tournament are:
3rd round: Grigor Dimitrov (BUL, 14)
Quarter-finals: Tomas Berdych (CZE, 5), Kevin Anderson (RSA, 12)
Semi-finals: Stan Wawrinka (SUI, 3), Milos Raonic (CAN, 8), Richard Gasquet (FRA, 11), John Isner (USA, 16)…
Andy Murray (GBR, 2), Kei Nishikori (JPN, 4), Marin Cilic (CRO, 6), Rafael Nadal (ESP, 7), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA, 10)… are in the bottom half of the draw.
Last year Djokovic lost in R3 to eventual champion Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2-6, 2-6.
This will be Novak’s ninth appearance at the Rogers Cup. He is bidding to win the trophy for the fourth time and add it to his collection of 24 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crowns.
The 28-year-old Belgrade native won the title on his 2007 debut and repeated the feat in 2011 and 2012.
In the doubles competition, Novak will team up with fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic against Viktor Troicki (SRB) and Andreas Seppi (ITA).
Photo: Getty Images
