As another big tournament nears, another big name in the sport has ruled themselves out of participating.

For the past couple of years, Masters 1000 events have expanded from one week to two. And while that has made a host of top players, and tournaments themselves, richer, the backlash against them is growing.

An increasingly physical tour is seemingly getting longer with these elongated Masters. But rather than improve the sport, more and more players are withdrawing from them to look after their health.

Seven-time major winner Carlos Alcaraz has been out since April with a wrist injury, and just when the tennis world hoped he would return in Cincinnati, he too pulled out.

World No 1 Jannik Sinner joined him soon after with a knee problem, raising concerns both of the world’s two best players may not be fit for the US Open.

While that seems unlikely, certainly for Sinner, another big name of tennis has withdrawn from this prestigious competition. Four-time major winner Naomi Osaka has dropped out of Cincinnati, citing “fatigue”.

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The world No 13 made it to the semi-finals of Washington and the quarter-finals in Toronto, with Osaka now deciding to fully turn her attention to the US Open.

In a statement, the Japanese said, “I’m really sad to have to withdraw from Cincinnati this year due to fatigue. I love playing here and am looking forward to coming back and competing in Cincinnati next year.”

This comes after the Canadian Open’s tournament director Valerie Tetreault called for changes to be made to tennis’ “demanding schedule”. Sinner, Alcaraz, and Novak Djokovic were among the big names to not take part in this year’s tournament.

Tetreault said, “We are obviously very disappointed that Jannik and Novak won’t be joining us in Montreal this year, especially after they also withdrew from last year’s tournament in Toronto.

“We respect their decisions and understand that, with such a demanding schedule, players’ health must remain the priority. That said, we believe the frequency of these last-minute withdrawals in the last few years raises a broader issue for our sport.

“Masters 1000 events are among the flagship tournaments on the tour, and fans rightfully expect to see the world’s best compete. We are already in discussions with the ATP to ensure this matter received serious consideration.”

Aside from that, Osaka’s development takes the number of withdrawals on both the men’s and women’s draw to 15 overall in Cincinnati. Below is a breakdown of that list.

ATP Cincinnati Open withdrawal list

- Carlos Alcaraz (world No 2) – replaced by Mattia Bellucci

- Alexander Bublik (world No 11) – replaced by Marton Fucsovics

- Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (world No 25) – replaced by Adam Walton

- Sebastian Korda (world No 50) – replaced by Valentin Royer

- Ethan Quinn (world No 51) – replaced by Lorenzo Sonego

- Holger Rune (world No 99) – replaced by Daniel Merida

- Jannik Sinner (world No 1) – replaced by Stefanos Tsitsipas

WTA Cincinnati Open withdrawal list

- Victoria Mboko (world No 12) – replaced by Tamara Korpatsch

- Jasmine Paolini (world No 15) – replaced by Taylor Townsend

- Hailey Baptiste (world No 32) – replaced by Tatjana Maria

- Jacqueline Cristian (world No 39) – replaced by Maria Timofeeva

- Emma Raducanu (world No 49) – replaced by Maya Joint

- Karolina Muchova (world No 6) – replaced by Simona Waltert

- Lois Boisson (world No 281) – replaced by Kamilla Rakhimova

- Naomi Osaka (world No 13) – replaced by qualifier/lucky loser

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