Montreal fans are among some of the most vocal and passionate on the ATP World Tour, which will create a rock concert atmosphere when home favourite Milos Raonic takes the court at the Coupe Rogers.

The sixth seed will start his Montreal campaign against Adrian Mannarino or #NextGenATP Russian Daniil Medvedev. Raonic has enjoyed success on home soil before, finishing runner-up at this event in 2013 (l. Nadal) and reaching at least the quarter-finals in four of his past five attempts. Most importantly, he has moved past the injuries that plagued him at the beginning of the season and is able to play and practise the way he wants.

“I’ve been healthy physically for a while now, which is nice,” said Raonic. “I’ve also been a lot better over the past few weeks in some of the areas that aren’t necessarily the core of my game, so hopefully I can continue to build on that.

“I haven’t had the freedom of just thinking about tennis at times. I’ve been thinking about a lot of other things in the sense of staying healthy and other areas around my game,” he added. “The beauty of this most recent period is that I’ve been able to get my mind back strictly on tennis.”

Although Raonic is still seeking his first ATP World Tour title of the season, he’s consistently gone deep in the events he’s played. He finished runner-up in Delray Beach (l. Sock via w/o) and Istanbul (l. Cilic), recorded semi-final finishes in Lyon and Brisbane, and reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Rome.

If he’s going to lift his first winner’s trophy this year, there arguably wouldn’t be a better place to do it than Montreal. Raonic spent plenty of time training here as a junior and has reconnected this week with the family that hosted him for years. He’s always received plenty of support from fans here and they’ll be eager to try and lift him to his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title.

“There’s an incredible appreciation for this tournament in Montreal and there’s an amazing turnout year after year,” said Raonic. “There’s an unbelievable atmosphere and energy on the court. I have great memories here from four years ago, so those moments and that familiarity will serve me well.”

Rafael Nadal could reclaim his standing as World No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings at the Coupe Rogers, but the Spaniard said he’s focused on the matches at hand for now.

A semi-final finish in Montreal will allow top seed Nadal to unseat Andy Murray in the top spot, a position he hasn’t held since July 2014. But with several tricky opponents potentially standing between him and the last four, including home favourite Milos Raonic, red-hot John Isner and the always dangerous Juan Martin del Potro, Nadal said he can’t afford to look ahead.

“I don’t even think about that now. I’m trying to have the right preparation now and that’s it,” said Nadal. “I’m going to keep trying to play the way I did in the first part of the season, so if I’m able to make that happen, I hope to have a chance to do well.”

Nadal has enjoyed plenty of success before in Canada, winning here in 2005, 2008 and 2013. His winning record has spanned generations of ATP World Tour legends, but while many of his former peers have long since retired, he’s still going strong in one of the best seasons of his career.

“Early in my career there was Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, a lot of good players. Roger Federer was there, and Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray came a little later. That was a long time ago already, too,” joked Nadal. “The only difference is that we’re older. In the past year-and-a-half, there’s been a good new generation that increased the number of top players, but that’s sport in general.”

His resurgence in 2017, including the historic “La Decima” at Roland Garros, has been one of the most talked about storylines this season. But perhaps most impressive is that the Spaniard is still as motivated as ever to win after 16 years on tour. The 31 year old believes that the reason he and 35-year-old Federer are continuing to rack up titles this year is not only because they’re fully healthy again, but also that their passion for the sport has never wavered.

“We love what we are doing. We have the passion to compete and play tennis, so that helps us to be professional and do the right things on and off the court. If you are healthy, it’s much easier to keep playing longer,” said Nadal. “The mental aspect isn’t difficult if you love the sport. We’re privileged to work for a living at one of our hobbies.” 

A LOOK BACK

International Challenger Chengdu (Chengdu, China): Top seed Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei picked up a staggering 28^th ATP Challenger Tour title by defeating second seed Evgeny Donskoy of Russia 6-3, 6-4. The 33 year old wins his second title of the year and is now 20-3 in Challenger finals since 2008. Donskoy was seeking his second Challenger win of 2017 after prevailing this March in Zhuhai.

Thindown Challenger (Biella, Italy): Fifth seed Filip Krajinovic of Serbia saved his best tennis for the final by defeating local favourite Salvatore Caruso 6-3, 6-2. The 25 year old has won three Challenger titles this year after also prevailing in Heilbronn in May and this past month in Marburg. Caruso was appearing in his first Challenger final.

Open Castilla Y Leon (Segovia, Spain): In an all-#NextGenATP final, Jaume Munar delighted the home crowd by prevailing over Alex De Minaur of Australia 6-3, 6-4. The week was a remarkable turnaround for Munar, who had only won a single main draw match this year at the Challenger level. The Spaniard is currently No. 301 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, but will surpass his career-high ranking of No. 243 when the newest standings are released on Monday.

De Minaur drops to 0-2 in Challenger finals. The 18 year old has already jumped nearly 150 spots in the Emirates ATP Rankings this year and will move inside the Top 200 in Monday.

Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships (Lexington, Kentucky): Fourth seed and #NextGenATP American Michael Mmoh scored an upset 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3 win over third seed John Millman of Australia. Mmoh served to stay in the match at 5-6 in the second set, but rebounded to win his first Challenger title of the year and second overall. Millman was aiming to prevail again in Lexington after taking the title in 2015.  

Svijany Open (Liberec, Czech Republic): Fourth seed Pedro Sousa of Portugal picked up his second Challenger title of the year by defeating Guilherme Clezar of Brazil 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. The 29 year old also finished runner-up last week in Tampere. Sousa won his maiden Challenger crown this February in Francavilla.

A LOOK AHEAD

There are four Challengers on the schedule this week, with a new $150,000 event in Jinan, China, taking top billing. Lu and Donskoy return as the top two seeds, while #NextGenATP South Koreans Duchkee Lee and Soon Woo Kwon are the third and sixth seeds, respectively.

The $100,000 event in Aptos, California, celebrates its 30^th consecutive year of play. Past champions include Andy Murray, Patrick Rafter and Marcos Baghdatis. Malek Jaziri of Tunisia is the top seed and Jordan Thompson of Australia is the second seed. Six #NextGenATP players are in the draw including Aussie Akira Santilan, Americans Taylor Fritz and Noah Rubin, and Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan. An all-#NextGenATP battle also highlights the opening round as seventh seed Casper Ruud of Norway plays Quentin Halys of France.

The $50,000 Challenger in Floridablanca, Colombia, is back for the ninth consecutive year. Guido Pella of Argentina is the top seed and Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic is the second seed. Local favourite and 2014 champion Alejandro Falla is also in the draw.

Lastly, the $50,000 event in Portoroz, Slovenia, returns for the fifth straight year. 2014 champion and local favourite Blaz Kavcic is the top seed, Peter Gojowczyk is the second seed and Krajinovic looks for another title is the sixth seed. An intriguing all-#NextGenATP first-round is also in the draw featuring De Minaur and Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.

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ATP CHALLENGER TOUR ON TWITTER: The ATP Challenger Tour has launched a dedicated Twitter account for the latest news and information about players and events. Follow @ATPChallenger at twitter.com/ATPChallenger.

Mexico has continued to treat Sam Querrey well in 2017. The American defeated Rafael Nadal this March to take the title in Acapulco, and the second seed has now prevailed at Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex in Los Cabos by winning Saturday’s final over wild card and #NextGenATP Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

“It’s really exciting to win here. I felt like I played really well. This tournament only keeps getting better, so I’m already excited to come back next year,” said Querrey. “I think the last couple of months have been the best I’ve played and if I can keep this going the rest of the year, it’ll be my best year on tour yet.”

Querrey picks up his 10^th ATP World Tour singles title and second of 2017, marking just the second time in his career (2010) that he’s won more than one title in a season. His victory will also put him back inside the Top 20 of the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time since July 2013.

Despite the loss, Kokkinakis can take heart in achieving the best result of his career. The 21 year old had never reached an ATP World Tour quarter-final prior to this week. He is the lowest-ranked finalist (No. 454) since then-World No. 966 Raemon Sluiter at the 2009 Ricoh Open.

“I’m obviously disappointed at the moment. I definitely thought I could have done better, but I have to look at the positives in that this is my best week on tour. Hopefully this is just a small step,” said Kokkinakis. “The good news is that I have a lot of things to work on and I’m still having tight matches with some of the best players in the world.”

The 21 year old was sidelined from singles competition for 18 months with a laundry list of injuries, but returned to singles action this past May. In just his fourth tournament back, he defeated Milos Raonic at the Aegon Championships. Kokkinakis has only played seven tournaments this season, but will jump to around No. 225 when the newest standings are released on Monday.

Querrey picks up 250 Emirates ATP Rankings points and a cheque for $113,640, while Kokkinakis leaves Los Cabos with 150 Emirates ATP Rankings points and a cheque for $59,850.

The second seed needed just 17 minutes to race to a 4-1 lead in the opening set and went on to grab the early advantage, but Kokkinakis regrouped by scoring the lone break of the second set a 2-1 and eventually forcing a decider. It appeared that the Aussie was on his way to his first ATP World Tour singles title, but Querrey regrouped by breaking Kokkinakis for 2-0 in the final set and once more in the last game to prevail in one hour and 46 minutes.

Vasek Pospisil played a bit of street hockey when he was younger, but never had the experience of competing against NHL pros. On Saturday in Montreal, he had his opportunity at the annual Coupe Rogers Ball Hockey Challenge.

“It’ll be interesting. I hope I don’t embarrass myself!” said Pospisil ahead of the friendly game at Stade Uniprix.

Facing off against an NHL team that included Jonathan Drouin, Charles Hudon and Michael McCarron of the Montreal Canadiens, he more than held his own. The British Columbia native, who fondly recalls watching the Mario Lemieux-Jaromir Jagr-Ron Francis line as a kid (“that line was pretty crazy”), had his fair share of scoring chances and earned the praise of his hockey counterparts.  

“He was good,” said Alex Burrows of the Ottawa Senators. “He was really intense. He’s the same way on the court. He never gives up. Everything is Pospisil, they say. Everything is possible. It’s the same thing here. He worked hard. He had a blast. He was probably the best tennis player playing hockey.”

Dutchman Robin Haase and Canadian former pro Frederic Niemeyer took part in the action alongside Pospisil. Though this version of hockey proved to be new to Haase, he quickly settled in and enjoyed the experience.

“It was fun,” said Haase. “It took me about 20 seconds before I realised it’s not real field hockey, because in real field hockey, which we know in my country, you’re only allowed to play with one side of the stick. Here it’s both sides. That confused me a little bit, but after that it was fine.”

The NHL players, also represented by Antoine Roussel (Dallas Stars), Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida Panthers) and Alexander Killorn (Tampa Bay Lightning), held on to win the game 5-4.  

“I think it was a great experience to play against a tennis player,” said Huberdeau. “They were good. They were sweating a lot at the end, so they worked hard. It was great fun.”

Juan Sebastian Cabal and Treat Huey raced to the doubles title on Saturday at Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex, with the second seeds requiring just 57 minutes to defeat Sergio Galdos and Roberto Maytin 6-2, 6-3. 

“It was a great match and a really good week for us. We played some good matches all week, but I thought today was our best tennis,” said Huey. “The city was unbelievable and everyone treated the players so well, so I can’t wait to come back next year.”

Cabal/Huey remained in control throughout the contest. The only minor blip came when they were unable to serve out the match at 5-2, but they regrouped with their fifth break of the championship in the next game.

“I’m really happy to win the tournament with Treat. It was our first time together and our first win, so it was amazing,” said Cabal. “It was an amazing tournament, great sightseeing and on the beach, so it was great to finish the week like this with a title.”

Huey picked up his first ATP World Tour doubles title of the season after a runner-up showing this February in Delray Beach with Max Mirnyi. Cabal won Munich and Buenos earlier this year with fellow Colombian Robert Farah. The pair also recorded runner-up showings in Geneva, Budapest and Rio de Janeiro.

Despite the loss, both Galdos and Maytin enjoyed the best week of their careers. They each had only won two ATP World Tour doubles matches outside of Davis Cup coming into Los Cabos.

Cabal/Huey pick up 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings point and split a cheque for $34,520. Galdos/Martin earn 150 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split a cheque for $18,150.