Rennae Stubbs Slams ‘Nightmare’ Calendar After Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic’s Canadian Open Withdrawal

Jannik Sinner will not be playing at the Canadian Open, which is scheduled to start on August 2. Apart from Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic will also not be competing. Alcaraz is scheduled to return at the Cincinnati Masters.

He, in fact, was last seen in action in the first round of the Barcelona Open. And because he injured his wrist during that match, he was forced to withdraw from both the French Open and Wimbledon.

Djokovic, however, last played in Canada in 2018. He hasn’t played in the two warm-up Masters 1000s before the US Open since winning the 2023 Canadian Open.

Back to Sinner, he chose to prioritize rest and recovery instead of chasing the historic Golden Slam. Serena Williams‘ coach Rennae Stubbs blamed the calendar for Sinner’s withdrawal. The ATP changed the format of the Canadian Open as well as the Cincinnati Masters last year, making both two-week events.

This calendar, we’ve been talking about it forever and a day, how do we fix this? The Canadian Open was one of my favorite tournaments every single time I played. The crowd support it’s astronomical, how good it is. They love their tennis in Canada.

Rennae Stubbs said on The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast

It was in Canada back in 2023 that Sinner won his career’s first Masters 1000 title. He reached the quarterfinals the following year but skipped last year.

They love this time of the year, but when you lose your two biggest marquee stars in Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, and now Novak Djokovic, how do we change this narrative of this calendar being such a nightmare?

Rennae Stubbs added

Sinner is expected to be back for Cincinnati. Last year, he played the event as the defending champion and also reached the final, only to hand the walkover to Alcaraz.

Rennae Stubbs says Jannik Sinner has learned his lesson

Jannik Sinner played five back-to-back Masters 1000s, winning all. He lost both the Australian Open and the Qatar Open before reaching the final. Then he completed the Sunshine Double, stopped Carlos Alcaraz from defending his Monte Carlo title, and then took home the Madrid Open as well as the Italian Open.

His participation in the three clay-court events was questioned when he suffered a shock second-round upset at the French Open due to cramps. Sinner also admitted that the physical setbacks during his defeat to Juan Manuel Cerundolo could be because he played non-stop tennis.

And because he has missed a chance to bid for the Golden Masters, many questioned his decision to skip the Canada event. But Rennae Stubbs rushed to his defense.

I don’t blame Jannik for not playing. It was a bear of a schedule for him doing what he did, played all those clay-court tournaments. Lost that really tough match at the French, then goes and wins Wimbledon, doesn’t play anything prior. Maybe he learned a lesson about the load of tennis that he did before the French.

After the warm-up events, Sinner will be chasing his second title at the US Open. He won it in 2024 against Taylor Fritz but failed to defend it last year, losing to Alcaraz.

And people have the audacity to say, ‘Well, he has the opportunity to win all the Masters 1000s this year. Why wouldn’t he do it?’ Do you think he cares about that? He’s got so many records now – youngest to do this, youngest to do that – he just won Wimbledon.

Rennae Stubbs added

In the Wimbledon final, he beat Alexander Zverev to defend his title. It was his sixth title of the season.

Also read: Alexandra Eala Explains Why She Turned Down Doubles Reunion with Venus Williams at the Washington Open