MONTREAL — Jannik Sinner has withdrawn from the Cincinnati Open with a right knee injury, he announced Sunday, meaning the world No. 1 will miss both of the prestigious hard court tune-up tournaments heading into the U.S. Open. The 24-year-old also skipped the Canadian Open, which is underway in Montreal this week, to prioritize his health.

“After consulting with my doctors and my team, I have to announce that I need to withdraw from the Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati,” Sinner’s statement read. “My right knee has been bothering me and even though we have been working hard with my medical team, I have to accept that I’m not ready to compete yet.”

Sinner last played at Wimbledon, where he hoisted his fifth Grand Slam trophy, and showed no signs of injury during his grass-court run. But he joins a mounting — and increasingly troubling for the sport — list of banged-up players in men’s tennis that’s left some of the ATP’s top-tier tournaments without its biggest stars.

Carlos Alcaraz is still rehabbing a right wrist injury and hasn’t played since April, and neither he, Sinner nor Novak Djokovic played at the Canadian Open this week. The event is a Masters 1000 tournament, which is the level just below a Grand Slam and is considered among the most prestigious events on the ATP Tour, aside from the year-end Finals.

Beyond Sinner, Alcaraz and Djokovic, whose absence was no surprise as the 39-year-old mostly saves his body to compete in Grand Slams these days, the draw at the Canadian Open has been rife with upsets and injuries to top-ranked players.

No. 2 Felix Auger-Aliassime, the tournament’s hometown hero and biggest draw, pulled out with a back injury before his first-round match. Taylor Fritz lost in the second round, with murmurs of a foot issue trickling out after the match. Frances Tiafoe retired from his third-round match and later posted on social media that he had a cyst removed from his hand. Jack Draper was in tears during his first-round loss, his latest attempt to return to the court while dealing with bone bruising in his left elbow.

Those were just the injury-related losses. Plain-old upsets also tore through the draw, and by the middle of last week, the Canadian Open had become the first Masters 1000 tournament since 1991 in which no top-five players reached the third round.

Players tend to feel more urgency in Cincinnati than Montreal because of its proximity to the U.S. Open, which may curb some upsets. But nevertheless, men’s tennis is facing yet another two-week Masters 1000 tournament without its biggest names and the injury bug running rampant.

NEW YORK — Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale was ejected before the first pitch of Sunday’s game at Yankee Stadium.

Television cameras caught Sale having an intense conversation from inside the dugout, with plate umpire Dan Bellino leaning over the railing. The other umpires were within earshot of the conversation, and third-base umpire Dan Merzel ultimately motioned for Sale to be thrown out.

It all happened with the Yankees’ defense set, starting pitcher Cam Schlittler on the mound and Braves leadoff man Drake Baldwin nearly ready to bat.

The ejection comes one day after a contentious balk call against Sale in his start against the Yankees. Manager Walt Weiss was ejected after arguing the call, allowing Spencer Jones to score from third base with one out in the fifth inning. Sale, who had two strikes reversed into balls earlier the same inning, also complained about the call. The Braves went on to lose the game, 5-4.

After the game, Weiss said Merzel, who was the plate umpire at the time, made a “terrible call” and said Merzel explained that Sale decided to pitch out of the windup for the at-bat without declaring it to the umpire first.

“Sale declared the hitter before that he was going out of the windup,” Weiss said, according to the Associated Press. “He said he did not declare after that. He’s never done that in his career, so it’s a terrible call. I always try to show the umpires respect, and they know that, but you can’t make that call right there.”

Weiss and Bellino had a nearly nose-to-nose conversation on the field behind home plate after the first inning, but no other ejections happened.

Sale has been known to have a hot head at times, like when he cut up the Chicago White Sox’s throwback jerseys in 2016. This is his fourth career ejection and his first since Aug. 3, 2019, when he argued balls and strikes while pitching for the Boston Red Sox against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

This is not the first time someone has been ejected before the start of the game. In 2015, then-Cincinnati Reds manager Bryan Price was thrown out after arguing with the umpire while bringing out the lineup card before facing the Cleveland Indians. In 2024, then-San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin was ejected before the first pitch of a game vs. the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field because, he said, “I just talked too much” to the umpires.