Alexander Zverev was all smiles when a reporter asked him about Novak Djokovic at his pre-tournament press conference Sunday at IGA Stadium in Montreal. Djokovic and Jannik Sinner had both withdrawn from the National Bank Open, prompting tournament director Valérie Tétreault and Tennis Canada to publicly call for financial penalties on players who skip mandatory Masters 1000 events, while Carlos Alcaraz is also missing the field, though due to injury rather than choice. Zverev wasn’t buying the idea that a bigger check would have changed anything for Djokovic specifically.

“You think Novak will care if he gets a bigger bonus?” said Zverev in his press conference in Montreal. “I think the guy has — I mean, if I would have to guess, the guy is north of 400 million in his bank account, and so I’m not sure he would care about 50,000 more or less”.

Zverev wasn’t far off. Djokovic has earned north of $194 million in on-court prize money alone. Having accomplished almost everything in the sport, the Serb now mainly prioritizes staying fit and available for the Grand Slams, playing just a handful of Masters events most years, five of nine in 2025 and four of nine in 2024, with 2018 the last year he played all nine.

Zverev also rejected the idea that the sport needs new financial incentives at all, since the ATP already runs a bonus system tied to Masters participation.

“That’s the way it is right now. I mean, it’s not rocket science. We get bonuses at the end of the year if we play all nine Masters”, said Zverev.

Even so, players like Djokovic still collect a share of that bonus pool without playing all nine, since veterans with well over 600 tour matches and more than 12 years on tour fall under a separate exemption. If Zverev has a real fix in mind, it isn’t more money, it’s a shorter calendar.

“I used to play more 500 events, 250 events when the Masters were shorter,” he said, adding that he’d be open to revisiting incentives only “if everything goes back to the old way” and Masters return to a one-week format.

None of this discourse is stopping Zverev from trying to make his own mark in Montreal this week.

Alexander Zverev Will Be the Top Seed in Montreal

With Sinner, Alcaraz, and Djokovic all out of the draw, Zverev arrives as the top seed in a depleted field. Fresh off winning the French Open and finishing runner-up at Wimbledon, the World No. 2 is positioned to dominate as the tournament’s clear favorite, even though he admits he and his team briefly considered skipping the event altogether before deciding to play.

His recent form backs up that confidence. Over the past three months, Zverev has played with far more aggression from the baseline, leaning on his forehand in pressure moments, a shift that was on full display against Sinner in the Wimbledon final, where he had the Italian on the ropes for long stretches of the first two sets. That head-to-head has still gone against him this season, though, with Sinner beating him in all five of their semifinal or final meetings, something Zverev framed as proof the two of them have been the tour’s most consistent players all year.

Zverev returns to a tournament he knows well, having won the title in 2017 with a win over Roger Federer in the final. He opens his campaign against either Tallon Griekspoor or Lorenzo Sonego, holding a 9-2 head-to-head edge over the Dutchman and a 6-0 mark against the Italian.

By his own admission, Montreal may not be where his best tennis shows up.

“I don’t think maybe I’ll play my best tennis here,” he said, “but the result of me playing here, I think I’ll play better in Cincinnati and then hopefully my best tennis in New York,” pointing toward Cincinnati and the US Open as the real markers of how this hard-court stretch is going.