Carlos Alcaraz returns and other must-see tennis bits for Wednesday

The last time we saw our hero, Carlos Alcaraz, he was vanquishing a once-great ruler and becoming the king. Alcaraz held his crown up for all to see along with his genuine and joyful smile. Of course, his crown was actually the Wimbledon trophy for the men’s singles title, and his opponent was Novak Djokovic.

Also, I guess if you are a fan of the Hopman Cup, which is not an ATP event, then you witnessed Carlos Alcaraz playing recently, but nothing he did there affected his won-loss record or got him any ATP rankings points. No offense to the Hopman Cup. It is a fine event.

But Alcaraz returns to ATP play on Wednesday in the second round of the National Bank Open to take on Ben Shelton. Will Alcaraz be rusty? Doubtful. In fact, he’s likely to be extremely fresh which doesn’t bode well for the rest of the tournament. He’s clearly the best player on the ATP currently and likely will remain that way for years to come.

Carlos Alcaraz returns to the ATP tour on Wednesday

Carlos Alcaraz isn’t the only player to watch on Wednesday, however. One of the best matches might be fourth-seed Stefanos Tsitsipas versus Gael Monfils. Monfils looked fit and quick in his first-round win over Chris Eubanks 7-6(3) 6-7(4) 6-1 on Monday. That third set might be a warning to Tsitsipas that Monfils is in Toronto to win.

In fact, all the top seeds on the ATP side will be in action Wednesday. So take the day off sick and put on the Tennis Channel and kick back. But don’t stop with the ATP as the WTA showcases all its top seeds as well.

The match of the day could be top-seed Iga Swiatek versus Karolina Pliskova. Pliskova has the skills to defeat Swiatek, but she hasn’t exactly been on her game recently. But Pliskova did take Swiatek to three sets at the Porsche Grand Prix in April, so who knows? Anything can happen.