Stan Wawrinka will not be participating in the 2017 Rogers Cup, the Canadian Masters tournament that will be set in montreal next week. Wawrinka would have entered the tournament seeded for the semi finals. However, the website for the Rogers Cup announced his withdrawal on Wednesday. The cited reason is a knee injury.
“Stan has always been loyal to our tournament and we’re obviously disappointed he won’t be here this year,” Eugène Lapierre, Tournament Director of the Rogers Cup, claimed. “Stan is one of the best players in the world and we wish him a quick recovery and best of luck for the rest of the season.”
Wawrinka and Djokovic top players to miss event
The last time Wawrinka played in Montreal was 2 years ago.
Tennis fans will remember that the masters event in Montreal in 2015 was the stage where Nick Kyrgios made his classless comments, talking about Wawrinka's girlfriend mid-match. Wawrinka joins Novak Djokovic as another high-ranked player that will be on the sidelines for the Rogers Cup this year. In Djokovic's case, not only will he miss Montreal, but the rest of the season.
In the weeks ahead there is still both Cincinnati and the 2017 US Open for tour players. In the latter event, Wawrinka is the defending champion so there is some pressure on him to be healthy for later this summer in order to avoid what could be a major ranking slide. Even with missing an important event like Montreal, Wawrinka does not appear likely to fall in the rankings at this point.
However, it's possible that Marin Cilic might overtake both Wawrinka and Djokovic in one swoop with an excellent run at the Rogers Cup.
Tack on Cincinnati to miss as well
"After much consideration and consultation with my doctors and my team, I have decided to skip Canada and Cincinnati to be on the safe side, although I've been battling hard to be fit for these events," Wawrinka added on his official website.
The knee injury is a strange one at this time as Wawrinka has actually been fairly idle recently. He was in the French Open final about two months ago and clay does put players to the test physically. His grasscourt season amounted to little as he went 0-2. It appears as though he may have picked something up at Roland Garros.
Other players stand to benefit from Wawrinka's absence. All players that are seeded below the Swiss will budge up one spot. The Rogers Cup website confirmed that Milos Raonic will now be seeded 8th, a great spot to gain as it awards him a bye through the first round. Raonic is involved in the Washington draw this week so avoiding a round of play with a bye will help him recover from any fatigue he accrues this week at the Citi Open. John Isner will also get a seed although perhaps the American himself is a withdrawal risk after he already pulled out of Washington this week.
