Sawt Falasteen - Zverev remains wary of 12-day Masters events

The top seed and world number two told reporters in Montreal that he has his doubts about the wisdom of the 12-day Masters tournaments, which can seem as long and draining to players as a Grand Slam fortnight.

This edition of the elite Canadian hard court tournament is missing world number one Jannik Sinner, 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic and Spain's Carlos Alcaraz, who has not played since April due to a wrist injury.

"I think (the pullouts) are a result of the two-week Masters event. I think it's just too long for some players, too much before the US Open," Zverev said.

"I used to play more 500 events, 250 events when the Masters were shorter, but now I don't do that anymore just because of time spent away and time spent on tournaments."

Zverev said that he and his team also seriously considered bypassing Canada this year.

"We had a thought also of maybe skipping Montreal, but then we decided to play it

But the reigning Roland Garros champion and Wimbledon finalist last month added: "I need to play matches. I need to play tournaments.

"I don't think maybe I'll play my best tennis here, but the result of playing here, I think I'll play better in Cincinnati and then hopefully my best tennis in New York," he said, looking ahead to the US Open that starts on August 31.

Despite fatigue, the 29-year-old is hoping to take his summer momentum into the North American hard court build-up before the final major of the season.

"The two months that I had was fantastic. Of course, I wanted to win Wimbledon, I wanted to win the final (against Sinner).

"But I played an opponent who also knows how to play in these moments, and he played a phenomenal match, a great match which could have gone a bit longer. I feel like it could have gone in the fifth set.

"I played a lot of tennis in that period. So I went on holidays for a week and then after started practicing and preparing myself the best I can for this swing."

Zverev leads the tournament field, with Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime seeded second ahead of Australian Alex de Minaur, Daniil Medvedev and title holder Ben Shelton.

With rain marring the opening day in the French-speaking city, completed matches were a rarity, with China's number 270 Jerry Shang defeating Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay 6-3, 6-3 before afternoon rains set in.

B.Mahmoud--SF-PST