A Grand Slam semifinalist will round out the main draw of the National Bank Open presented by Rogers, while a one-time Grand Slam runner-up will head into the qualifying draw, Tennis Canada announced on Wednesday.
Jack Draper, the former No. 4-ranked player in the world and a semifinalist at the 2024 US Open, received one of the three final wild cards into the main draw for next week’s tournament. Canadians Alexis Galarneau and Liam Draxl, who won the 2026 Road to the NBO, received the other two wild cards.
Kei Nishikori, who beat Novak Djokovic in a 2014 US Open semifinal before losing to Marin Cilic in the final, received a wild card into Saturday’s qualifying draw. Nishikori, who, like Draper, peaked at No. 4 in the world, will be joined by a trio of Canadians in Duncan Chan, Keegan Rice and Justin Boulais.
Including those receiving wild cards into the main and qualifying draws, there will be eight Canadians in the men’s side, headlined by No. 2 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Though both Jannik Sinner and Djokovic withdrew, and Carlos Alcaraz remains sidelined with a wrist injury, there will still be plenty of big names descending upon Montreal.
Wimbledon runner-up Alexander Zverev will enter as the No. 1 seed, with Alex de Minaur, Daniil Medvedev, Ben Shelton and Casper Ruud helping to fill out the top 10.
After the weekend’s qualifying draw, the men’s tournament will begin with the Round of 64 on Aug. 4.