The ongoing National Bank Open in Montreal, Canada, has not been a happy hunting ground for the home players this year, with the withdrawal of the second-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime making headlines. Ranked 4th in the world right now, Auger-Aliassime was the event’s best bet for a local champion, a hope that came to an end on Wednesday.

“I felt a fairly sharp pain in my back on Monday afternoon at practice, when everything had been going well in my preparation until then,” said Auger-Aliassime in his press conference.

“Then, thanks to the tournament, I was able to get an extra day to try to get ready. Everyone did their best to give me a chance to compete.”

Auger-Aliassime gave it his best shot to be ready for the Wednesday match, but a short practice session that day convinced the Canadian that it was not meant to be for him this year at his home event.

 “I went to warm up on court at 3pm, and basically I couldn’t serve,” said Auger-Aliassime. “So it was impossible for me to play at the level competition demands,”

The second seed was slated to face Titouan Drouget in his opening round, who had won against lucky loser Jaime Faria, with the Portuguese player serving as Auger-Aliassime’s replacement in the draw.

Auger-Aliassime’s withdrawal came on the heels of Gabriel Diallo and Denis Shapovalov having injury-related retirements in their second- and first-round matches, respectively. On the women’s side, the Canadian contingent had already suffered a massive blow as defending champion and home favorite Victoria Mboko had withdrawn from the tournament due to injury.

In the men’s draw, young Canadian players like Liam Draxl and Alexis Galarneau had opening-round exits, whereas the home players in the women’s draw did not fare much better, with the likes of Ariana Arseneault and former Major champion Bianca Andreescu losing in the first round. The likes of Katherine Sebov and Kayla Cross won their first-round matches, but could not extend their campaigns beyond the second round.

The Auger-Aliassime withdrawal will sting the Canadian as he has been in good form this year. He has a 30-14 win-loss record this year, winning a title in Montpellier and finishing runner-up in Rotterdam. He had an excellent run at Wimbledon, where he had his part to play in the exceptional five-set epic against Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

With the likes of Sinner, Alcaraz, and Djokovic not being there in the draw, it was a great opportunity for someone like Auger-Aliassime to have a deep run at his home Masters, where he has a 5-7 record.

Not to forget, Auger-Aliassime has also split with his longtime coach, Frederic Fontang, which means the Canadian will not have a known support system to help with the recovery process. The Canadian will be determined to have himself fit and firing for the US Open as he has a large chunk of points to defend from his semifinal run in New York last year.