Stefanos Tsitsipas seeks success in depleted ATP Montreal field

Stefanos Tsitsipas called withdrawing from the ATP Montreal Masters a “normal” move from Olympic champion Novak Djokovic and silver medalist Carlos Alcaraz.

The Greek eighth seed quickly added that he would have certainly done the same.

The 2018 Canadian finalist, who lost to Djokovic in the Paris quarter-finals last week, said there is no shame in pulling the plug after such a dramatic showing at the Games.

“If you win an Olympic medal it’s normal to withdraw from the next tournament,” 11th-seeded Tsitsipas said as he prepared for a second-round start in Canada.

“I would probably do the same. But (as) I’m coming here with no medal — (doing well in Montreal) would be a good goal to set as a nearly top-10 player,” he said.

Tsitsipas opens his campaign here against the winner from American Alex Michelsen and Japan’s former US Open finalist Kei Nishikori.

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The Canadian field was depleted as both Djokovic and Alcaraz protectively pulled out leading up to their dramatic Sunday final, won 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/2) by Djokovic in a massive display of emotion as he plugged the last remaining major gap in his career resume.

Last week in Paris, Tsitsipas was unable to hold a double break over his 37-year-old Serb opponent, with Djokovic saving three set points before finishing the straight-sets victory.

“It was a great accomplishment and achievement. You could see how much Djokovic wanted it. He put in a lot of effort to make it happen,” Tsitsipas said. “It was one of the few things that was not part of his collection.”

The 25-year-old added, “I was disappointed to lose being up a double break. But I put in my best effort and I lost to the gold medalist. It would have been a dream of mine to leave Roland Garros with any medal.