Canada’s Daniel Nestor has played his home ATP World Tour event a staggering 29 straight times, having made his debut in 1989. He boasts the honour of having won every ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, although never in Montreal.

Less than a month shy of his 45th birthday, Nestor feels he has unfinished business as he has his sights set on clinching the Coupe Rogers in Montreal. He holds a 45-26 tournament record with 12 different partners, winning Toronto titles in 2000 with countryman Sebastien Lareau and 2008 with Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic.

What do you remember about your Masters 1000 debut here (in Montreal) in 1989?
I remember two things – playing a close doubles match on Centre Court and just knowing that if I would’ve won my singles match I would have played against John McEnroe. That was enough to freak me out.

What were those feelings like?
It was my first big tournament, I got a wild card. All I was thinking about was the possibility of playing John McEnroe and I was playing a guy who was way better than me before that and the match wasn’t that long so it was funny I was thinking it.

What’s your favourite thing about this tournament?
I mean there’s so many things – the city, the hotel, the courts, the fans, there’s so many great things about this event that make it special.

What makes the Masters 1000s special?
Great venues, beautiful cities, the fact all the top guys are playing, the treatment we get. The fact that the fields are so strong makes it special and the fans that follow it for sure make it a great event.

What does it mean to have won all the Masters 1000 tournaments?
Obviously it’s a good feeling. I remember winning in Paris maybe five or six years ago and finally having all nine. I’ve been playing for a long time and I’m fortunate to have some great partners so I feel very appreciative to have these experiences and to be able to win these events.

Out of all those, is there one that stands out as particularly special?
Toronto, I think. Yeah being at home and being able to win on home soil is special.

If you could win only one more for the rest of your career …
For sure Montreal would be my choice if I had to win one more trophy, just because I haven’t won it. I’ve had success here but not winning. 

What is the greatest match you’ve seen in a Masters 1000, singles or doubles?
There’s been so many epic Federer and Nadal matches, thinking Rome or one of those where you had to play five sets.

Which Masters 1000 host city is your favourite and why?
I mean Indian Wells is tough to beat. It’s such a great venue, it’s such a beautiful place. You get a lot of Canadian support there with a lot of fans coming down, usually from Western Canada. It doesn’t even matter, it just feels like every court, every match is well supported. People are excited about tennis and the venue. My family is there and there’s so many great things about that event.

What’s your favourite Masters 1000 court to play on and why?
I enjoy playing in Madrid. I like those conditions of a fast clay court with altitude. I like playing here but sometimes it can be really hot, like the last time we played a final here two years ago, I mean, I struggled with the heat so yeah that could be my toughest match, two years ago trying to win the final, trying to fight through the tough conditions. I’m going to say Indian Wells or Madrid – Indian Wells for the tournament, or Madrid, for the conditions.

View FedEx ATP Head2Head for Day 2 of the Coupe Rogers & vote for who you think will win!

Thiem vs. Schwartzman | Lopez vs. Chung | Anderson vs. Sela

View Tuesday Schedule and check back later for preview notes.

1) World No. 7 Dominic Thiem of Austria, American No. 1 Jack Sock and four-time quarter-finalist Tomas Berdych headline play on Court Central Tuesday at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal.

2) Thiem, seeking his first win here in four tries (2014, l. to Simon, R64; 2015, l. to Gulbis, R64; 2016, l. to Anderson, R32), vies for his 40th match win of the year when he meets Diego Schwartzman of Argentina for a berth in the R16. The No. 3 seed from Austria began his summer hard-court campaign by reaching the R16 last week in Washington (l. to Anderson) and has a 13-9 record on hard-courts this year. He is 3-0 lifetime against Schwartzman, including a 1R victory in 2015 at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami. Schwartzman defeated American qualifier Reilly Opelka in three sets on Monday to earn a R32 meeting with Thiem. The Argentine is 0-13 lifetime against Top 10 opponents, including 0-7 in 2017.

3) Sock, the No. 15 seed, takes on qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert in a first-round encounter, having won his two previous meetings with the Frenchman, including a 1R victory at this year’s Australian Open. The World No. 17 has reached the R16 here the last two years (2015, l. to Djokovic; 2016, l. to Wawrinka) and is coming off a semi-final performance last week in Washington (l. to Anderson). With Sam Querrey winning the Los Cabos title last week, this marks the first time that three Americans are ranked in the Top 20 in the Emirates ATP Rankings (No. 17 Sock, No. 19 Isner, No. 20 Querrey) since Aug. 6, 2012 (No. 11 Isner, No. 13 Fish and No. 20 Roddick). Sock leads the ATP World Tour with 22 wins on hard-courts in 2017 (22-7 overall) and is seeking his third ATP World Tour title of the year Auckland (d. Sousa) and Delray Beach (w/o vs Raonic). Herbert, who achieved a career-high No. 65 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on July 24, defeated Thiem en route to the SF at Rotterdam (l. to Goffin) and advanced to the QF at Newport (l. Fratangelo).

4) Berdych, who advanced to his fifth ATP World Tour SF of the year last week in Los Cabos (l. to Kokkinakis), kicks off afternoon play on Court Central when he takes on Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia in a first-round matchup. Basilashvili won their previous meeting in the R32 at Vienna in 2016. Berdych, the No. 10 seed, is 14-12 lifetime at this event, reaching the QF in 2006 (l. to Gasquet), 2010 (l. to Federer), 2011 (l. to Tipsarevic) and 2016 (l. to Djokovic). The Czech has a 15-7 record on hard-courts in 2017. Basilashvili, making his debut at this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament, has an 8-7 record on hard-courts this year, advancing to his 2nd ATP World Tour final at Memphis (d. Thompson, Karlovic, Ebden and Kukushkin; l. to Harrison). The Georgian is looking to snap a four-match losing streak (l. to Querrey in R64 at Wimbledon; l. to Zeballos in R32 at Bastad; l. to Ferrer in R32 at Hamburg; l. to Ofner in R32 at Kitzbuehel).

5) The second afternoon match on Court Central features 18-year-old Canadian wild card Denis Shapovalov taking on Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil in a first-time encounter. Last year, Shapovalov defeated Nick Kyrgios in the R64 in his debut here before falling to Grigor Dimitrov in the R32. This year, the Canadian teenager posted his first ATP World Tour match win of 2017 by defeating Kyle Edmund in the R32 at London/Queen’s Club before losing to Tomas Berdych in the R16. Shapovalov is seeking his first win on hard-courts this year (0-3). Dutra Silva is making his maiden appearance at this tournament. He advanced to the QF at Umag (d. Monfils in R16, l. to Giannessi in QF) and reached a career-high No. 63 in Emirates ATP Rankings on July 24. The Brazilian has a 2-2 record on hard-courts in 2017.

6) In second-round play on Banque Nationale Court, American Jared Donaldson takes on Frenchman Benoit Paire for the second time on the ATP World Tour. Paire won their previous meeting last year in the R32 at Washington. Donaldson eliminated No. 13 seed Lucas Pouille in two straight tiebreakers on Monday, improving to 8-7 on hard-courts this year. The 20-year-old Donaldson reached the R16 in his debut here last year (d. Millman in R64, d. Fognini in R32, l. to Raonic in R16) and is coming off his seventh R16 showing of 2017 last week in Washington (l. to Sock). Paire held off American Donald Young in three sets on Monday to record his 25th match win of 2017 and improve to 11-9 on hard-courts this year. The Frenchman reached the R16 here in 2013 (d. Wawrinka in R32, l. to Matosevic in R16).

7) Three first-round matchups are slated on Banque Nationale Court. First up is London/Queen’s Club champion Feliciano Lopez of Spain, who kicks off the afternoon session against Hyeon Chung of Korea. Lopez is 10-11 lifetime here, reaching the SF three years ago (d. Berdych in R16 and Raonic in QF before losing to Federer in SF). The Spaniard reached the QF last week at Los Cabos (l. to Dzumhur), but has struggled to a 3-7 record on hard-courts in 2017. Chung is competing at this event for the second time (l. to L. Mayer in the R64 in his debut in 2015). He reached his 1st ATP World Tour SF at Munich (d. Monfils in 2R for biggest win of career, l. to Pella) and also advanced to the QF at Barcelona as a qualifier (d. Kohlschreiber and A. Zverev, l. to Nadal). Lopez defeated Chung in the R16 at Houston earlier this year in their only previous meeting.

8) No. 9 seed David Goffin of Belgium follows on Banque Nationale Court when he takes on Antalya champion Yuichi Sugita of Japan for the first time on the ATP World Tour. Goffin has reached the R16 here the last two years (2015, d. Querrey, l. to Nishikori; 2016, d. Querrey, l. to Monfils) and is coming off a QF showing in Gstaad (l. to Haase) two weeks ago. The Belgian No. 1 has compiled a 33-14 record in 2017, including 19-7 on hard-courts. Sugita, who lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the R64 here in 2016, is competing in his first ATP World Tour match on hard-court this year. He captured his 1st ATP World Tour title in his 1st final at Antalya (d. Baghdatis and Mannarino) and has also won Challenger titles at Yokohama, JPN (d. Kwon); Shenzhen, CHN (d. Kavcic) and Surbiton, GBR (d. Thompson). Sugita achieved a career-high No. 43 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on July 17.

9) South Africa’s Kevin Anderson faces Israeli qualifier Dudi Sela in the third afternoon match on Banque Nationale Court. They have spilt two previous meeting, but have not squared off since 2011, when Anderson won their R16 matchup in Johannesburg on hard-court. Anderson is a two-time quarter-finalist here (2014, l. to Dimitrov; 2016, l. to Wawrinka) and is 10-7 lifetime. Last week, the South African reached his first ATP World Tour final of 2017 in Washington (l. to A. Zverev) and climbed from No. 45 to No. 32 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Sela is seeking his first match win at this tournament (l. to Falla in the R64 in 2009; l. to Isner in the R64 in 2016). He advanced to 1st ATP World Tour SF since 2014 Atlanta at Chennai (l. to Medvedev after holding 1 MP). The Israeli has a 6-9 record on hard-courts this year, losing to Sock in the R16 at Atlanta and to Donaldson in the R64 last week in Washington.

As most occasions have been this year for Roger Federer, this birthday must also feel a little sweeter.

The Swiss great turns 36 today, 8 August 2017, and some say his game has never been better. He enters the Coupe Rogers in Montreal with a tour-leading 31-2 record and has won five tour-level titles this season, including two Grand Slam crowns – Australian Open and Wimbledon – and two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles – BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and the Miami Open presented by Itau. Federer also captured the Gerry Weber Open in Halle.

His year could get even better as well. During the North American hard-court swing, Federer will be battling for No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Read More: Nadal Eyes No. 1 In Montreal

Wish Federer a happy birthday on MyATP now!

Juan Martin del Potro needed two breaks of serve, and that’s exactly what he made happen against John Isner at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal on Monday. The Argentine broke at 5-5 in both sets and overcame 24 aces from the 14th-seeded American to advance 7-5, 7-5 at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Canada.

Del Potro, a 2009 finalist in Montreal (l. to Murray), improves to 11-0 in opening-round matches this season. He never faced a break point and converted just enough of them against Isner (2/7). The Argentine was glad to be back in Montreal after missing the 2015 edition.

“It’s amazing for me. I missed this tournament a lot. I couldn’t play the last editions because of my wrist. But now I’m in good shape. I have the chance to play after many years, and I started by winning a good match against Isner,” he said.

Del Potro had to stay patient against the big-serving American all match, but especially at 5-5 in the second set, when Isner erased two break points before del Potro smashed a forehand that Isner couldn’t handle, ending the eight-minute game.

The Argentine is coming off a third-round showing (l. to Nishikori) last week at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. Isner hadn’t dropped a set since 6 July when he lost to Israel’s Dudi Sela in the second round of Wimbledon.

The American had strung together 16 consecutive sets and eight match wins in a row during back-to-back title runs at the Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open in Newport and the BB&T Atlanta Open. The titles were the 11^th and 12^th of his career. 

“He has a great serve. His movements from the baseline are getting better. It’s, of course, a tough first round for both of us. It could be a quarter-final, could be a semi-final of any tournament,” del Potro said. “But we play today, and I got lucky to win tonight. Hopefully I can get another draw in the next tournament because nobody wants to play against John in the first round.” 

Del Potro, who recorded his 16^th match win of the season, will next meet #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov or Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva.

In other action, Canadian Peter Polansky will face Roger Federer in the second round after beating compatriot Vasek Pospisil 7-5, 6-2. Polansky faced Federer three years ago at the Masters 1000 tournament in Canada and lost 6-2, 6-0.

Asked what he remembers from that match, Polansky, No. 116 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, smiled at the memory. “I remember it went really, really quick,” he said. “I wish I was out there longer last time. Nonetheless, I remember I actually did play a pretty decent match against him. I looked at some of the highlights after the match, and there were a lot of good points. I just lost every single one of them.”

Spaniard David Ferrer battled Brit Kyle Edmund for two hours and 26 minutes before coming out on top, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3. The 35 year old, a 2014 quarter-finalist, will next face 15^th seed Jack Sock of the U.S. or French qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

Argentine Diego Schwartzman setup a second-round meeting with third seed Dominic Thiem after beating #NextGenATP American Reilly Opelka 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-4. Opelka hit 21 aces but Schwartzman won 87 per cent of his first-serve points and broke the 6’11” American three times to advance.