Ben Shelton has stepped in to support Jannik Sinner after the world No. 1 came under scrutiny for pulling out of the Canadian Open.

Sinner, along with Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, will not feature at the Masters event. The Italian said he wanted to “prioritise his health”, a decision that has drawn questions, especially because he was on course to become the first player in tennis history to win every Masters event in a single calendar year.

Even so, Sinner has also drawn approval from former players, with Kim Clijsters among those to praise his choice to sit out the tournament.

Shelton, who is competing at the Washington Open before moving on to the Canadian Open, also defended Sinner during his press conference.

“I’m not sure how sustainable the current circuit setup is. I think, for me, the biggest concern is injuries. Sinner knows his body better than anyone, like all players,” he said during his Washington Open press conference.

“If Jannik and Novak feel physically and mentally prepared, they’ll play. In my opinion, they don’t miss a tournament without a reason. (Jannik) is winning as many matches as he plays; his match count is extremely high. How is he going to be able to play in all the tournaments? I don’t think it’s sustainable.”

The numbers help explain Shelton’s point. Sinner has already played 47 matches on the ATP Tour this season, despite skipping several tournaments. Shelton, by comparison, has played 36 matches across the first seven months of the year, while also collecting three ATP titles.

Sinner’s schedule has still been packed with matches at the events he has entered. He has reached the final of every tournament he has played this season except the Australian Open, the Qatar Open and Roland Garros. His loss at Roland Garros was also the only time he exited a tournament before the quarter-finals.

That becomes more notable when set against the fact that Sinner took most of the grass court season off. For the world No. 1, the strategy may be a practical way to manage fatigue and health without giving up on his Grand Slam ambitions.

If that approach continues, it could become a pattern not just for Sinner, but for other leading players on the ATP Tour as well.

The Canadian Open has quietly turned into one of the ATP Tour’s hardest events to sell to the game’s biggest names. In recent seasons, Novak Djokovic has skipped it since 2018, while Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have also stayed away from the North American tournament over the last two years.

That stands in sharp contrast to the event’s earlier prestige. In 2010, the title was lifted by names such as Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal. More recently, the trophy has gone to Alexei Popyrin and Ben Shelton, a shift that has only sharpened the sense that the event is struggling to hold its status with the top of the game.

A number of explanations have been offered for the pattern. The two-week Masters format is one of the most common. Others point to the length of the North American hard-court swing, while the heat and the tournament’s timing close to Wimbledon have also been cited.

Whatever the cause, the issue has become difficult to ignore, and Mark Petchey believes he has an answer. Speaking on The Big T Podcast, the former coach of Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu argued that the ATP should consider a special arrangement to help the Canadian Open draw leading players through guarantees.

“I honestly think the only fix for Canada on the ATP side is again to make a kind of separate rule for them, so that they can entice the top players with a guarantee,” he explained.

“Which obviously they they can’t pay guarantees at the thousand level because the bonus pool has been put in there to try and protect the tournaments.

“It’s not really for the players. It’s to protect the tournament so they don’t have to pay out more money if the top players don’t play,” he continued.

“But I’m almost of the opinion that Canada feels as though it’s going to be a difficult child syndrome for the ATP. And if you’re going to try and help them, you almost have to loosen the purse strings.”

The bonus pool is distributed to the top 30 players at Masters events who have played eight or more tournaments on the ATP Tour calendar. It is worth $21.5 million and is based on rankings points collected at those elite events. With Sinner’s withdrawal, he is now one tournament away from no longer being eligible for consideration. His bonus pool earnings for 2026 will also be reduced by 25%, although that figure is unlikely to matter much given the millions he has already earned this season.

Alex de Minaur booked his place in the second round of the Washington Open with a straight-sets win over Stefanos Tsitsipas, a result that stands out given their one-sided history. Before this meeting, the Australian had lost 12 of his 13 matches against the former world No 3, so the opening round offered him little margin for error.

The match was part of a revised Washington Open format introduced this year, with the draw reduced from 48 players to 32. That change has produced a series of heavyweight first-round contests, and de Minaur said the adjustment makes the event more compelling for everyone involved.

“Yeah, look, I think for the tournament, for the spectators, for the viewers, it’s obviously better, right? Because you’re going to get stacked draws, you’re going to get potential first round clashes that are brutal and so I think it’s it’s a good thing, right?” said de Minaur.

“I think it helps everyone on board. Obviously for me, I had to make sure that I was ready from the get-go and managed to kind of get through a very tough match and hopefully I can build that confidence into the next match.”

What comes next could be no simpler. De Minaur is set for a meeting with Cruz Hewitt, the son of Grand Slam champion Lleyton, in what shapes as a generational contest. If he advances again, Jakub Mensik appears the most likely quarter-final opponent, with Taylor Fritz a possible challenge in the last four.

Ben Shelton is currently the leading candidate to face de Minaur in the final, meaning the Australian will need to negotiate a demanding path if he is to defend his title. He won the tournament last year by beating Brandon Nakashima, Corentin Moutet, and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, and this edition could represent an even higher standard.

That challenge is familiar territory for de Minaur. Four of his 11 career titles have come at ATP 500 level, including the Washington Open, the Rotterdam Open, and the Mexican Open. He also has points to defend from last season’s triumph, so a repeat run would help preserve his place inside the ATP Tour top 5.