In August 2021, in his junior season at the University of Kentucky, Gabriel Diallo opened the Lindner Family Tennis Center, the home base of the Cincinnati. Still outside the top 1,000 in the PIF ATP ranking, Diallo and three of his roommates decided to make the trip to Mason for the ATP Masters 1000 event.
“We took the car and we just asked Felix [Auger-Aliassime] If he could give us a ticket. I no longer know if it happened in the end, I think it did, “Diallo told Atptour.com.” We have tickets and I think it was rained, so we just came, walked around, looked some tennis and then went into the city and played bowling. ”
Four years later, Diallo is one of the stars of the tournament, 30th sown and on Monday confronted with top seeds Jannik Sinner for a place in the fourth round during his debut at the event.
“I don’t know if it really struck me. We are so focused on what we are doing now, but this year it happened very quickly,” Diallo said. “I started [at the] end of the last year since the [US] Open so far … My game has evolved very well. I still think there is so much that I can improve. I think what is great, I am in a position where I am 35 in the world with many things to improve.
“My team and I, we want to get those opportunities for the bigger boys, the better -ranked boys, to see where our game is and to give ourselves the opportunities to win.”
Diallo and Sinner are both 23 years old, but have drastically followed different paths. While Diallo went to university in the United States, Sinner quickly stormed to the top of the ATP tour. When Sinner won the ATP Challenger Tour title in Lexington in August 2019, Kentucky – the home of Diallo’s school – still had no PIF ATP ranking list.
But Diallo has taken major steps this year and rises from No. 87 at the beginning of 2025 to No. 35. He is wearing a lot of momentum in his first Lexus ATP Head2head meeting with Sinner.
“It is exciting to get the chance to play the number 1 player in the world. I think it is a great chance to see where my game is. I think that that kind of players can reveal what you are doing well, and what you can improve,” Diallo said. “We never crossed paths. I think we both didn’t play in juniors, because I don’t think he was very strongly ranked in juniors, and I went the university route. I think we have a similar Junior career. It should be exciting.”
Diallo said about Sinner’s game: “He is doing everything very well. Serves well, plays very well behind serve, goes well, defends well. He is demonstrably to the best level in the world, so I have to play some really good tennis, some inspired tennis for sure. I certainly have to compete with my ass to get a chance.”
Something that could help the Canadian is the local crowd by his side. He said that “many” people on his second round match were from Kentucky and that the area “is always a second home for me”.
“Immediately it felt like home, serious. The school, they hugged us. Everyone there, they are all insane supporters,” Diallo said. “Even the alumni, the boys who graduated, in the tennis team, they watched all our competitions … As I said, it’s always fun to play here and it feels like a second home for me.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]
#Diallo #enthusiastic #Sinner #Showdown #compete #ass