With Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic not participating at the 2019 Rogers Cup men’s singles tournament, Rafael Nadal is now the clear favorite to win it. That being said, the presence of a heavy favorite doesn’t mean that bettors should neglect some key sleepers to upset the balance in this upcoming event north of the border. Read on for more about some high value sleepers below.
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SLEEPERS
Kei Nishikori
It wasn’t that long ago when Nishikori nearly took home a Rogers Cup title. That was back in 2016, when he went on a deep run to reach the Finals. While he fell victim to Novak Djokovic in the Finals to the tune of a 6–3, 7–5 score, there wasn’t really no shame in losing to a player of the Serbian’s caliber. The Japanese has a solid record of 13-5 this year on matches played on the hard court. He has also won a title this 2019, and that was from a fantastic start-to-end performance during the Brisbane International. Earlier this year, Nishikori reached the quarterfinals of the 2019 Australian Open, but had to retire from the match against Djokovic after exhaustion got the better of him.
Stefanos Tsitsipas
The Tsitsipas that’s about to play at the 2019 Rogers Cup this month is a better, more mature, and more experienced version than the one that already made the Finals of last year’s edition of the tournament. It’s a scary thought for opponents of Tsitsipas in this event, especially when considering that he reserved a seat in the Finals last year, losing to Rafael Nadal to ultimately fall short of completing an improbable title run. However, he earned plenty of respect long before he lost to Nadal, as he defeated Djokovic in the round of 16 on his way to the title game. As of this writing, Tsitsipas is 17-7 on hard-court matches this year.
John Isner
At 34 years old, Isner is among the few senior players in the upcoming 2019 Rogers Cup men’s singles tournament. That doesn’t mean he’s likely to get steamrolled in Canada, though. For one, he’s already shown his capability to stitch together a nice run in a hard-court tournament, when he made the Finals of the Miami Open back in March. He failed to notch the title in South Beach after losing to Roger Federer in the Finals, but that’s not something to kick himself for, as there’s really no shame in losing to the Greatest of All Time. Isner should also feed off the confidence he got from winning the Hall of Fame Open following the trip to Miami. On the season, Isner is 15-8 in ATP hard-court matches.
