The summer swing begins in earnest Monday with the simultaneous Rogers Cup tournament in Toronto (ATP) and Montreal (WTA).
A Masters 1000 event, Toronto is mandatory for the men. But it will still be without three of the top four players in this unusual Olympic year: No. 2 Andy Murray, No. 3 Roger Federer and No. 4 Rafael Nadal have all withdrawn in order to gain more rest and prepare for the upcoming Games in Rio de Janeiro that begin on Aug. 6.
Serena Williams heads a Grand Slam-worthy Montreal entry list. Among the top 10, only No. 6 Victoria Azarenka, who announced she is pregnant and taking the rest of the season off, is missing.
Here are the top five questions as the Rogers Cup approaches:
1. Will Serena be adequately motivated after making history at Wimbledon?
Montreal had a nice little payback theme worked up for Williams -- until defending Rogers Cup champion Belinda Bencic pulled out. The wrist injury that forced her to quit during her second-round match at Wimbledon still isn't healed. Now 18, Bencic made her career breakthrough in Canada last year, toppling Williams in the semifinals and No. 3 seed Simona Halep in the final.
Williams has lost in the Canadian Open two years in a row (sister Venus took her down in 2014, also in the semis). Serena has a point to prove, and she needs to prepare for what most likely will be her last Olympics. Expect ferocity.
2. Is Novak Djokovic ready to get back on track?
Heading into Wimbledon, a calendar-year Grand Slam seemed a real possibility. The buzz was all about Djokovic and the challenge he posed to Federer's record of 17 Grand Slam singles titles. But Djokovic was upset in the third round by Sam Querrey. The Serb left London with question marks after suggesting he wasn't entirely right for the match, refusing to elaborate.
In two Olympics, Djokovic has won just one medal in singles: a bronze in Beijing. He's volubly patriotic, so the upcoming Games are a high value target for him. Djokovic is not in the habit of playing tuneup tournaments, which is what Toronto has become in this Olympic year. It should tell you something.
3. Will any of the WTA's lesser lights make a move?
Olympic fever is stronger in other parts of the world than the U.S., particularly in smaller or less prosperous nations. So it's logical to expect a greater level of urgency and proficiency in the coming days from the likes of Romania's Halep, Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova, Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska and a number of Czech players, including Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova.
Montreal should give us a good indication of where they stand.
4. Can Milos Raonic build on his outstanding Wimbledon performance?
Somebody had to benefit from Toronto's loss of Murray, Federer and Nadal in one fell swoop. It seems like poetic justice that the prime beneficiary is a Canadian who grew up just 9 miles from Toronto, No. 7 Raonic. With a wink from the draw gods, Raonic could find himself in the same half as No. 2 seed (and No. 5-ranked) Stan Wawrinka.
Raonic lost the 2013 Rogers Cup final (in Montreal) to Nadal. He handles home-crowd pressure well. He'll be treated as a conquering hero, coming off his first Grand Slam final appearance, in Wimbledon. We'll see how he handles the increased load of expectations -- including his own.
5. Will the long-awaited surge by U.S. players happen now?
Now that the tours are back on hard courts in North America, the chatter about American players inevitably grows louder. The U.S. men are coming off a commendable group performance at Wimbledon, marred only by a shocking Davis Cup loss to Croatia last weekend. John Isner, Querrey, Steve Johnson and Jack Sock need to step it up.
But it's the U.S. women, inspired by Venus and Serena, who have been trembling on the verge of a major breakthrough for some time. No. 11 Madison Keys has a huge game, and Sloane Stephens is far more talented than her No. 23 ranking suggests. Both are legitimate major contenders and former Grand Slam semifinalists. Coco Vandeweghe, while 24, is maturing late and emerging as an impact player on grass and hard courts.
This could be a telling summer for them, and it all kicks off Monday in Montreal.