No. 1 spot on the line at the Rogers Cup

The Canadian stop on the US Open series is ready to rumble. Rafael Nadal is the No. 1 seed at an ATP Masters 1000 for the first time in over three years. He helped kick off the festivities in Montreal in a sparring session with No. 3 seed Dominic Thiem.

Missing in the men’s bracket is defending champion Novak Djokovic, US Open champion Stan Wawrinka (neither will play the duration of 2017) and No. 1 Andy Murray who might lose his top ranking after 40 weeks.

Nadal can reclaim the No. 1 ranking for the first time since July, 2014 if he makes it to the semifinals. He has his work cut out with potential spoilers like Borna Coric, John Isner and Canadian favorite Milos Raonic standing in his way.

Or maybe Roger Federer will cruise to his sixth title of 2017, and set up a bid for the No. 1 ranking in Cincinnati next week. The Swiss brings in a sparkling 31-2 record. It’s his first appearance in Montreal since 2011 and fans couldn't be more excited.

There could be also be a circus going on when Nick Kyrgios has a practice session. A fan tweeted out a request to hit with Kyrgios, and the Aussie extended an open invitation to others who would like to meet him on court.

The WTA field will battle it out this year in Toronto and there is plenty of talent to watch including Canada's biggest hope Eugenie Bouchard, French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and last week's Stanford winner Madison Keys.

Defending Rogers Cup champion Simona Halep will not gain ground on world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova, but she might be glad to escape the scorching afternoon heat from last week’s Citi Open in Washington. The draw did no favors for Halep, who might have to open up against Keys for her first match. That’s a match worthy of a major semifinal.

Pliskova can pad her ranking lead with winning results, even if Halep defends her title. The Czech will be the heavy favorite in the lighter upper half of the bracket, and she's even entered in the doubles draw (with Washington doubles finalist Bouchard).

Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @JeremyEckstein1

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