by Arun Prasad – Sports Journalist and Photographer

Jannik Sinner was crowned the 2023 National Bank Open presented by Rogers singles champion after defeating Alex de Minaur from Australia on Sunday 13 th Aug 2023.

The 21-year-old Italian won 6-4, 6-1 to capture the first ATP Masters 1000 title of his career. This marked his third ATP Masters 1000 final, after reaching the Miami Open final in 2021 and 2023. With the victory, Sinner is expected to jump up to No. 6 in the ATP Tour’s rankings, a new career high. 

Sunday’s championship match also marked the first final appearance for Alex de Minaur at the ATP Masters 1000 level. Despite the loss, he will reach a career-high ranking of No. 12 on the ATP Tour on Monday.

Tennis fan in Toronto were disappointed by elimination of World no. 1 Carlos Alcaraz -the 2023 Wimbledon Champ when he lost to No. 14 Tommy Paul 6-3, 4-6 ,6-3 on Friday in quarter finals. The other disappointment was the elimination of Daniil Medvedev – a former Rogers Cup winner and World no.2 by Alex de Minaur in another nail-biting semi-final match on Saturday 7-6 ,7-6. Performance of Canadian players were not up to the mark. Felix Aliassime no. 12 in the world was defeated in the first round by M.Purcell 6-4,6-4 and Milos Raonic was defeated in third round by

M.McDonald 6-3,6-3 Danis Shapovalov withdrew from the games at the last minute due to his knee injuries. 

On the doubles side, Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer were crowned the 2023 National Bank Open doubles champions after defeating Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram 6-3, 6-1. This marked Arevalo and Rojer’s maiden ATP Masters 1000 title as a pair, and their seventh ATP Tour title overall. The 2023 National Bank Open saw record attendance numbers as over 175,000 tennis fans flocked to Sobeys Stadium in Toronto to witness the best of men’s tennis. With several innovative activations on- site including Virtual Reality tennis and a revamped food courtyard, the entire fan experience was elevated like never before.

Tennis Canada joined forces with WTA Foundation, Hologic and ATP Serves to donate money to the Tennis Plays for = Peace initiative’s Ukraine relief fund. Throughout the tournament, for every ace served in Montreal and Toronto, a donation was made. At the conclusion of both events, a grand total of $25,000 was donated to the fund.