Montreal ATP Looking Rather Flat without Federer and Djokovic
The Montreal Rogers Cup has now been skipped by Roger Federer two years in a row. If it was actually named after Federer the organises would be rather embarrassed by now but thankfully that name is just a mere coincidence. Still without Federer who are we to look to, to give Nadal a run for his money, Djokovic? Well he isn't competing either!
Djokovic joins Federer in skipping this masters event with both preferring just to play in Cincinatti before the US Open. With those two absent who can actually provide the moments of magic to entertain the crowd? Well Rafa Nadal attends again this year to defend his 1000 points for ATP rankings being the winner in 2018 when he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final.
There are three other players competing in Canada that are capable of beating Nadal on the day, Stan Wawrinka, Nick Kyrgios and Fabio Fognini. Thankfully these three players look in good form and should provide the zest to make the tournament half decent. Dominic Thiem is the only other player I'd remotely mention in the same light as Nadal having fought two French Open finals against him in the past two years plus claiming some memorable clay court wins over him in Masters events but Thiem is notoriously inconsistent on hard courts.
If Kyrgios secures the Washington title today I'll be very interested to see if he can take that momentum into a masters tournament and atleast add another masters 1000 final to his record. Whether he has the staying power to win a masters event is another matter entirely. With other said players such as Wawrinka and Thiem being in his half of the draw Kyrgios will have to keep a lid on his temper if he wants even half a chance of making the final to take on an opponent like Nadal.
Nadal's toughest opponent he could meet in his half the draw before the final is Fabio Fognini in the Quarters. With the Italian's Monte Carlo win this year vs Nadal that could potentially be the best match to watch before the final should it transpire and all bets are off as to who would win that one.
In terms of outside bets for the tournament, i'll be punting for:
Nick Kyrgios at 17.00
Stan Wawrink at 26.00
Fabio Fognini at 51.00
All three represent very good odds for one of them to atleast make it through to the final where all bets are then off vs Nadal as they all have a history of giving the Spanish bull a run for his money, especially Kyrgios and Fognini who have both beaten him this year.