Four of the top six ranked players and a dozen of the top 45 have withdrawn from the first ATP Masters 1000 event of the North American hard court swing. Those absences have left the draw wide open at the National Bank Open with several players ranked outside the top 40 getting seeds and first-round byes, and similar effects. Lorenzo Musetti, who is currently No. 7 in the world rankings, is seeded third for Toronto and has gotten a very good draw, wherein he will not meet a top 10 ranked player until the semifinal. The favorable draw comes at a good time for Musetti, who is hoping to regain his form after shocking opening round exits in his last two tournaments i.e. at the Wimbledon Championships and the Mubadala Citi DC Open. Musetti will be looking to capitalize in the absence of Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Jack Draper and Novak Djokovic in Toronto, where he has no points to defend. He decided to skip the tournament last year due to the Paris Olympics, where he clinched the bronze medal defeating Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime. It marked Italy’s second Olympic tennis medal. Further in the North American hard court swing, Musetti has 50 points to defend at the Cincinnati Open and 100 points in the US Open. Ahead of the Canadian Open, the Italian No. 2 opened up about a challenging facet of his game during the press conference: My tennis is sometimes complicated. I have so many variations, and choosing the right one is often difficult. I find myself in situations where I have to make a choice, and like driving, it’s never easy to make the best choice.