WHY THE SUPERSTARS DON'T WANT TO COME TO CANADA

Many just don't know how to speak or understand Canadian.

Runner-up Jannik Sinner (L) gets a hug from champion Carlos Alcaraz at the 2025 French Open in Paris. Sinner would turn the tables on Alcaraz a few weeks later by defeating him in the Wimbledon final.

Photo by: Andy Cheung / Getty Images

Man, I’m pissed! I wanted to see the greats of tennis this year in Toronto, but I’m S.O.L. Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Jack Draper and Novak Djokovic, numbers 1, 2, 5 and 6 in the world have withdrawn from the National Bank Open next week in Toronto. Excuses given: Tired from Wimbledon, need rest and recovery, suffered an arm injury, need to prep for the U.S. Open, etc. Fines and/or suspensions: None.

Look, this shouldn’t be allowed, but it’s not like it’s a new problem, either. The ATP has been criticized for having too tough a schedule, and many players, including Alcaraz, have suffered injuries and burnout because of the pace. We’re talking about 22- and 23-year-old millionaires here.

Nevertheless, fans pay good money to see them, so instead of withdrawing, they could have all shown up in Toronto, tanked in the first or second round, bet tons of money on their opponent via discreet third parties who happen to have an interest in gambling, and nobody would be the wiser, right? I mean, at least they showed up. Fans would’ve gotten (some of) their money’s worth. Top seeds lose in the early rounds more than you might think. Just because the winner of this tournament gets over $1.1 million (U.S.) and the runner-up takes home nearly 600K doesn’t mean everybody is licking their chops to come to Canada, especially if they don’t have to. I’m sure you’ve heard the excuses:

“It's too soon after Wimbledon. It’s too close to the U.S. Open. I have obligations in Washington and Cincinnati the weeks before and after Canada. Blah, blah, blah.”

You can blame scheduling all you want, but going to Canada is a hassle, especially for wealthy athletes who worry that their cellphones won’t work up here and are perplexed by the metric system. Some have even gone so far as to say that they don’t know how to speak Canadian, so how will they be able to order from Uber Eats?

The RBC Canadian Open golf tournament last month at TPC Toronto had a similar problem drawing the big names. Sure, they had the likes of worldwide stars Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry and 20 of the best Canadians including former champ Nick Taylor, Taylor Pendrith, Corey Conners, Adam Hadwin and McKenzie Hughes. However, golf fans missed out on seeing the guys who are on TV every week: Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffle, Justin Thomas, Colin Morikawa, Jordan Speith, Rickie Fowler, and those LIV Tour players who are ineligible: Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, etc. Like so many big names before, they didn’t come to Canada and we didn’t get to see them in action. Our loss.

Back during the Tiger Woods era, the man himself only showed up four times for the Canadian Open; 1996 when he finished 11^th at Glen Abbey, 1997, when he missed the cut at Royal Montreal, 2000, when he won at Glen Abbey with a remarkable 215 yard 6 iron out of a fairway bunker over water that preserved his one-shot victory, and in 2001, at Royal Montreal, when he made the cut, but finished 10 shots back of the winner, Scott Verplank. The only other time Tiger was here was 2007, when he lost at the President’s Cup to Mike Weir at Royal Montreal, one of the greatest moments in Canadian golf. Tiger moved the needle. Caitlin Clark, in women’s basketball, moves the needle. Lionel Messi moves the needle. These types of athletes are rare.

The tennis equivalents of Tiger were Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Seeing them play live was more than just a treat, it was a delicacy. Before that, it was Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi and Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors. People paid top dollar to see these guys play. Today it’s Alcaraz and Sinner, with the Joker still hanging in there, and still a huge draw. They’ll all be at the U.S. Open for sure, but wouldn’t it be nice if we could see them up close and personal in Canada?

I would also like to see the men’s and women’s tournaments combined at one venue, rather than alternating between Toronto and Montreal. It’s dumb having the men’s and the women’s going on concurrently, but in different cities and with different Sportsnet crews broadcasting each event. They even try to make it look like they’re covering both events as one big tournament, going back and forth between Toronto and Montreal as if they were switching from Court Fourteen to Centre Court. Why not make it like Indian Wells or Cincinnati or any of the majors for that matter? Men and women playing their matches at the same venue at the same time.

I’m kind of glad I didn’t buy my tickets for this event in advance. Sometimes it’s worth it to wait until you’re absolutely certain that the big names are really going to play. Remember the time the Blue Jays sat Vladdy Guerrero on Victoria Day? 40 thousand fans expected to see the kid, and they gave him the day off. I remember buying Toronto Raptors tickets for six games back in 2019 because I wanted to see Kawhi Leonard play live. How was I supposed to know that he wasn’t going to dress for 22 games because of “load management” issues? Never saw him play once in those six games. All I saw was him in street clothes, and he wasn’t even a snappy dresser. It was like getting great tickets to see Bruce Springsteen and told that he was unavailable and that his understudy, Carrot Top, would take over his role. I’d be asking for a refund.

Seeing a star athlete perform in person is one of life’s greatest joys. I was lucky enough to see Ali, Jordan, Chamberlain, Mays, Aaron, Howe, Gretzky, Orr, Namath, Montana, Brady, Woods and many others. I couldn’t imagine going to a sporting event expecting to see a great athlete perform, only to find out that he/she won’t be playing. I had to tell my son that very thing every time we went expecting to see Kawhi Leonard play but got CJ Miles instead.

A reporter once asked New York Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio why he ran out a grounder to shortstop in a meaningless game.

“Because there’s always some kid who may be seeing me for the first time. I owe him my best.”

I wish today’s athletes had the same respect for the fans as Joltin’ Joe did. He showed up and he played hard. Is that too much to ask for?