Jannik Sinner forced to pull out as Montreal Masters threatens to descend into chaos

The Canadian weather is continuing to cause havoc with the ATP Masters tournaments in Montreal and it has forced world No 1 Jannik Sinner to make a big decision.

In a tournament that has already been rocked by a series of high-profile withdrawals including Olympics finalists Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, the event has been further hit by weather issues.

Tournament officials moved early in the day to abandon the full schedule as heavy and persistent rain associated with the remnants of post-cyclone Debby made the possibility of play at any stage of the day highly unlikely.

That left the tournament in peril as organisers headed into the weekend with a series of last-16 matches yet to be played.

Top seed Sinner was among those most severely impacted by the weather, as his hopes of playing against Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo were dashed.

With the prospect of playing two singles matches on Saturday as tournament chiefs desperately try to get the event back on track, Sinner made the decision to pull-out of the doubles competition he had been competing in alongside Britain’s Jack Draper.

The high-profile pairing of Sinner and Draper secured a couple of impressive wins in their opening matches in the doubles competition.

Yet Sinner made the wise choice to inform Draper that he would not be continuing in the competition as he turns his attention to winning the singles.

The Italian is the red-hot favourite for the title in Montreal, with the absence of Djokovic and Alcaraz leaving the door open for the Australian Open champion to add another Masters 1000 titles to his collection.

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Sinner missed the Paris Olympics with tonsillitis, but showed no signs of any lingering issues as he coasted to a 6-2 6-4 win over Croatian Coric in just over an hour and a half in his opening match in Montreal.

The weather has ensured Sinner has not taken to the court since that match, but he has been talking up his hopes defending his title in Canada.

Encouragingly, the weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday is better and that should give the tournament a chance to clear the backlog of matches ahead of the finals on Monday.

Sinner will be eager to return to top form and fitness after his recent health issues and he has been forced to hit back at claims that he should have played in the Paris Olympics.

Some of the Italian media and on social media suggested Sinner should have gone the extra mile to represent his nation in Paris, but he was not keen to respond to that barb.

“It’s a question I don’t even want to have to answer honestly,” he said. “I think only my team and I really know how I felt.. from the outside it’s one thing, from the inside it’s another. I especially know how I felt.”

“I had said since the beginning of the year that my biggest goal was the Olympics, but unfortunately I wasn’t even able to get out of bed.

“Then honestly, what people think… let’s say I give it little importance, little weight.

“I’m not on social media anymore, which is something that does me a lot of good. Then I read some things anyway, it’s obvious that when you open your phone there are notifications and I see something. But I also know who I am as a person and what kind of people I have around me, who all care a lot about me.”

“Unfortunately this time it went like this, there will always be some good things and some a little bit worse, like this.

“I understand people’s reaction, I’m honest, but now I’m here in Montreal and what happened happened.”

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