Jannik Sinner battled through a doubles match against Jack Draper at the Canadian Open to play his first match since Wimbledon.

Due to tonsillitis, World No. 1 Sinner was forced to miss the Olympics in Paris; however, the Italian has stated that he is fully prepared for his championship defense in Montreal.

“I was devastated to not be able to compete in the Olympics in Paris because it was one of my season’s objectives. Sadly, we have to acknowledge that this is how things worked out,” he remarked.

“Tonsillitis was tough; I took antibiotics for almost a week and didn’t touch the racket for days,” the top seed continued. I wasn’t in the best of health before I left for Canada, but every day I feel stronger and better.

“I’m happy to be here, where I won my first Masters 1000. My team and I are getting everything ready to defend the title and keep up our consistent performance, just like we have all year long.”

Sinner and Draper gained experience in the doubles competition, having won earlier in the week, as the singles main event did not start until later.

Draper won his first-ever doubles match at the highest level when he and Joran Vliegen overcame doubles specialists and 16th seeds Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-0, 6-7 (3-7), 10-8. The up-and-coming British player dropped his last three Tour doubles matches.

In the second round, Sinner and Draper will play Ben Shelton and Alexander Bublik, but for the Italian,, this is a good warm-up before he returns to singles play.

The 22-year-old is expected to play fifth seed Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals, after facing either Pedro Martinez or qualifier Borna Coric in the second round.

Sinner was ranked eighth in the world going into the 2023 Canadian Open, but he overcame Alex de Minaur in the championship match to claim his first-ever ATP Masters trophy and the biggest title of his career thus far.

But that was the beginning of a late-season run that continued into the 2024 season, when he won the Australian Open, his first Grand Slam, and then soared to the top of the ATP Rankings following the French Open.

Simply said, the number is different. Sinner stated, “My staff and I strive to make the process and our daily routine as efficient as possible while also trying to be prepared for any obstacle that may arise.

“I’m thrilled to be back here. It began with the Wimbledon semifinals from the previous year, and I came here to win my first Masters event. I’ve been quite consistent throughout the past year, and we will attempt to continue that in the upcoming months as well.

In the meanwhile, Draper was defeated in the second round of the Paris Games. He will take on Jordan J. Thompson in the opening round of the Canadian Open singles competition, and if he advances, he will play second seed Alexander Zverev.