Félix Auger-Aliassime was forced to pull out of the National Bank Open presented by Rogers in his hometown of Montreal because of a back injury.
Auger-Aliassime, the tournament’s second seed, was scheduled to face French qualifier Titouan Droguet in the second round on Wednesday night but said he started getting pain in his back on Monday.
“It was quite sudden,” Auger-Aliassime said in a press conference. “I was training here for two weeks, and I had zero problems. So, it happens sometimes. It's happened to me in the past. But the timing is tough, right, for it to happen here. Then I was lucky to get an extra day to prepare, as I was ready to play Tuesday night,” he added.
“I thought that day-by-day things would get better. I tried to go on court today. I tried to warm up, and then I basically couldn't serve, really. So, yeah, it was impossible for me to think about even competing.”
His withdrawal capped a tough last couple of days for Canadian players at the prestigious Masters 1000 event. Fellow Montrealer Gabriel Diallo had to retire against Luciano Darderi in the second set of Tuesday’s night session because of an ankle injury. And earlier on Tuesday, Denis Shapovalov retired against Zach Svajda while trailing 3-0 in the third set courtesy of an ankle injury that led to other complications.
The NBO would have been Auger-Aliassime’s first tournament since Wimbledon last month and first since cutting ties with longtime coach Frederic Fontang. He entered with a career-high ranking of No. 4, coming off quarter-finals at the French Open and Wimbledon.
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Auger-Aliassime and Diallo were also due to compete in doubles together.
Daniil Medvedev’s match against Botic van de Zandschulp will now take place on Centre Court to kick off Wednesday’s night session. Droguet, meanwhile, meets lucky loser Jaime Faria.
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Feature Photo: Pascal Ratthe/Tennis Canada
