The Russian tennis players actually did very well at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Elena Vesnina and Aslan Karatsev finally contested the mixed final against the later gold medal winners Andrey Rublev and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Daniil Medvedev, who woke up too late in his quarter-finals against Pablo Carreno Busta, went away empty-handed. And lost to the Spaniard in two sentences.

It was not because of the underground; Medvedev is known to be a fan of the hard court. The results in Roland Garros, where it made it to the quarter-finals against Stefanos Tsitsipas, and in Wimbledon, where Medvedev reached the round of 16 and lost to Hubert Hurkacz there, suggest that the number two in the world can also feel comfortable on other surfaces. But Canada is something special for Medvedev. Here he reached the final of an ATP Masters 1000 tournament for the first time in 2019, albeit in Montréal.

Nadal not convincing in Washington

The same can be said of Stefanos Tsitsipas, also an Olympic participant, who also left Tokyo not decorated with precious metal, like Daniil Medvedev. The Greek celebrated his 1000 finals premiere in Toronto in 2018, and has meanwhile also won a tournament in this category, this spring in Monte Carlo. The big thing in common? Both Tsitsipas 2018 and Medvedev a year later found their master in Rafael Nadal in the final. And it's back on the starting line for the current issue. In what condition? That can be judged rather unclear: In Washington Nadal won his opening match against Jack Sock with a lot of effort, against Lloyd Harris came in the round of 16.

Nadal could break his own record for oldest champion in Toronto. Two years ago, the Majorcan was among the Canadian winners with 33 Lenzen from Methuselah. But the signs may also point to youth. And the local heroes: Félix Auger-Aliassime has broken almost nothing in Washington, but he can be expected in his own country as well as Wimbledon semi-finalist Denis Shapovalov . However, Milos Raonic, who had to cancel his start due to an injury, will be missing.

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