Rogers Cup loss seared into Nadal’s memory

Loss to Canada’s Shapovalov, strongest Rogers Cup memory for No. 1 player

TORONTO — Rafael Nadal may have won the Rogers Cup three times, but it’s a recent upset loss that sticks in his mind the most.

Nadal won in 2005, 2008 and most recently in 2013, where he beat Canada’s Milos Raonic 6-2, 6-2, in Montreal. However, his strongest memory of playing in Canada was last year’s third round where he was upset by Denis Shapovalov, a wild-card entry in Montreal.

“It was a great feeling, playing Shapovalov. Not at the end,” said Nadal, who lost in three sets, to laughs. “It was a tough loss for me in that moment because it was a chance to become a world No. 1 again. Losing that match, I missed out on that chance.”

Shapovalov, who enters this year’s tournament as the top-ranked Canadian in the draw at No. 26 in the world, went on to lose to Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the semifinals. Zverev is the second seed this year.

Winning in 2008 is Nadal’s favourite Rogers Cup title because it put him atop the ATP Tour’s world rankings for the first time ever.

He’s the top men’s player in the world again and was on hand as the singles brackets for the Rogers Cup were filled out on Friday afternoon. Even as the No. 1 seed for the event, he craned his neck to look at a screen behind him as name after name was filled in.

“I’m not the kind of guy that says ‘I don’t like to watch the draw, I just like to focus on the next match.’ No. I’m very normal,” said Nadal to more laughter. “No, I watch the draw. I like to see the full draw.”

Gesturing to the brackets behind him, Nadal listed off the players that he won’t have to face until later rounds, if he gets that far.

“I cannot think about Stan Wawrinka or Nick Kyrgios, before playing Benoit Paire or a qualifier,” said Nadal, whose first match will be against the winner of Paire’s first-round pairing against a qualifier. The qualifying tournament begins Saturday. “I know the first round is going to be a tough round. Watching the full draw won’t distract me from being focused on that first round.

“I like to see the matches in the first round. A couple of them are very interesting, in my opinion.”

The most interesting match in the first round is the one Nadal alluded to: Wawrinka versus Kyrgios.

The men’s tournament will be at Toronto’s Aviva Centre on York University’s campus starting on Monday. The women’s side runs in Montreal.