"Truly the weakest era, once Nadal and Djokovic retire, there will be different champions every week" - Tennis fans react to Top-3 men's seeds dumping out of Canadian Open early

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic both skipped the 2022 Canadian Open, the former due to a minor injury and the latter due to vaccine protocols in the country not allowing unvaccinated travelers to enter the country.

In the absence of the duo, Daniil Medvedev, Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas emerged as the top seeds and the favorites to win the ATP1000 tournament prior to its start, only for all three of them to exit the event in the second round.

While Medvedev fell to the mercurial Nick Kyrgios in his opener (first round being a bye), Alcaraz and Tsitsipas were shown the door by Tommy Paul and Jack Draper respectively.

Although the top two seeds went to three sets, the Greek couldn't even manage that, falling to the Brit in straight sets. In fact, this was the first time since 1999 that none of the Top-3 seeds won their first clash at a Masters 1000 event.

Tennis fans on social media were more than disappointed with the trio for their disappointing displays, lamenting that the ATP Tour was in shambles at the moment in the absence of the fabled Big-3.

One fan was of the opinion that there would be dark days ahead for the men's circuit, with new winners propping up every week once Nadal and Djokovic hung up their racquets, and tweeted:

"This is truly the weakest era, once Nadal and Djokovic retire, there will be different champions every week just like the WTA."

Another user remarked that the result should be a shining example of why the ATP rankings are a mess at the moment, thanks to the decision not to award ranking points at Wimbledon, and wrote:

"Expect the whole of Tennis to know these are not the Top-3 players in the world and far from it. If you alter the rankings to suit your agenda then this is what happens."

Here are a few more reactions from fans:

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Rafael Nadal back in action at Cincinnati, Novak Djokovic likely to play next in Laver Cup

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will play together at the Laver Cup up next

At the Cincinnati Open next week, however, things will be different. Rafael Nadal has made himself available for the ATP1000 tournament, taking to social media yesterday to reveal that he will be departing for the United States soon.

A one-time winner at the event, the Spaniard will be hoping to close the gap between him and Novak Djokovic in the Masters 1000 race to just one with a title run at this year's edition in Cincinnati.

Unfortunately, the Serb himself will not be available to thwart the 22-time Grand Slam champion there, considering that the same protocols that prevented him from playing in Montreal also stop him from entering the United States. The 21-time Major winner is likely, therefore, to miss the US Open as well, allowing the Mallorcan another shot at increasing his lead in the Slam race.

Djokovic will be back in action after that at the Laver Cup, where he will be joined by Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and others. From there, he will move to the Asian swing, with tournaments scheduled to take place in Japan and South Korea before the ATP World Tour Finals at the end of the season.