It has been a tough year for Novak Djokovic. At this time last year he was being hailed as invincible, in the midst of an exceptional run rarely seen in professional sport - laying to waste anyone who stands in his way. While the tennis world toasted the emergence of a player to challenge the likes of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, the sceptics wondered whether it would indeed last. It did briefly at the start of the 2012 season, but Djokovic has had a largely forgettable summer which included a French Open final defeat at the hands of Nadal, a Wimbledon semi-final exit at the hands of Federer, and a disappointing London Olympics where he failed to get his hands on a medal, despite making the semi-finals once again.

However, the return to arguably his most conducive surface, hard courts, could well signal the re-emergence of Djokovic the champion and not just the contender. And, he marked that return with a second consecutive title triumph at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, romping to an easy 6-3, 6-2 win against Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

World no. 2 player Maria Sharapova had to withdraw from the Rogers Cup today, because of a very bad stomach virus which has been bothering her since her stay in London.

Andre Agassi has been forced to pull out of the Legends Night at the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank with a back injury. He will be replaced by former World No. 1 Michael Chang who take on another former World No. 1 in Jim Courier on Monday night at Uniprix Stadium.

«I'm saddened to be unable to compete in Montreal this year. I injured my back on the practice court 2 days ago. In my enthusiasm to play well in a city that has embraced me over the years, I suffered spasms that don't allow me to rotate my upper body," said Agassi. "No one is more disappointed than me and I promise you that I will be back the first opportunity I have! I want to extend my personal "best of luck" to one of the greatest tournaments in the world and some of tennis' greatest fans! "

The draw for the 2012 Rogers Cup was conducted on Saturday, with local favourite Milos Raonic's first opponent set to be the winner of the first-round match between Alex Bogomolov Jr. of Russia and Viktor Troicki of Serbia, and a possible third-round contest looming with No. 2 seed Andy Murray. The top 16 seeds all received a first-round bye, with No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic taking on either Australia's Bernard Tomic or a qualifier in his first match and No. 2 seed Andy Murray set to play the victor of the battle between two other qualifiers.

Should the seeds hold up, Djokovic would take on No. 6 Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina in the quarter-finals a rematch of their Olympic Bronze Medal contest, with No. 3 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France and No. 5 Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia facing off in the second quarter. On the other half of the draw, Murray could take on No. 8 seed John Isner of the United States for a spot in the semifinals, while No. 4 Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic and No. 7 Juan Monaco of Argentina could be the final quarter-final match-up.

An Olympic year always meant that certain tournaments were going to suffer as player fatigue kicks in towards the second half of the season, and the Rogers Cup was always the most likely tournament to be affected due to its proximity to the Olympic Games.

Right on the heels of Rafael Nadal's withdrawal from the tournament yesterday, the tournament lost its other major drawing card today as Olympic Final bound Roger Federer decided to give his body a well deserved break and pull out of the Canadian Masters series event.

World No. 3 Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from Rogers Cup due to injury. Following his defeat at the hands of Lukasz Rosol at Wimbledon, Rafa has not played any competitive tennis, withdrawing from a promotional event in Madrid and then from the Olympics last month due to his ongoing battle with his knees.

"Coming to Toronto is always one of the highlights of my season so I'm very disappointed that I can't play there this year," said Nadal. "I was planning on coming to Toronto and did everything I could to be ready but I still need some more time to recover."

The men's wildcards in the singles draw of Rogers Cup were announced today with Canadians Frank Dancevic, Peter Polansky and Vasek Pospisil receiving entry into the main draw of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament. They join world No. 23 Milos Raonic, whose ranking gave him an automatic entry into the tournament, to make a total of four Canadians in the singles main draw. They could later be joined by other Canadians as well, as four of the country's competitors will take part in the qualifying tournament.

Dancevic, 27, was enjoying great results in 2012 before a back injury interrupted his momentum earlier this season. He captured the $125K Dallas Challenger in March as a qualifier, defeating world No. 24 Marin Cilic en route, and also reached the final of the $50K Tallahassee event. The 2007 Rogers Cup quarter-finalist will be making his 10th appearance at Canada's Masters 1000 event.