Last July Gabriel Diallo lost in the first round in Newport in straight sets. The Canadian was the number 165 player in the PIF ATP ranking list and was still looking for a breakthrough, but the Canadian did not deter. He spent time on the hard courts of the International Tennis Hall of Fame after he was eliminated and continued to work with his coach on his game.
Now Diallo is the World No. 36 and one of the most dangerous players at his Home ATP Masters 1000 event, the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers. Twelve months after needing a wildcard to enter the main draw in Montreal, Diallo is the 27th seed in Toronto.
“I think the approach will be a bit different than the previous years. [I] Also have to prepare a little differently, “Diallo told Atptour.com.” The last two years I came in like a wildcard or perhaps as an underdog with a little less to lose. Now it is of course different. I have been placed, I will really have to prepare myself. I will have to fight as well as I can. [I’m] I’m really looking forward to it. ”
Felix Auger-Aliasassime and Denis Shapovalov, Nos. 28 and 29 respectively, are the top two Canadians in the PIF ATP ranking. But Diallo is less than 10 places behind and appears on the rise. The 23-year-old recently won his first ATP Tour title in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
“It has been good. It is clear that the ranking went like this, so [I am] I am very happy with that. But not alone [am I] happy about that, but the level in general, “Diallo said.” The consistency, the improvements have been very noticeable, so my team and I are very happy with that. I look forward to going in this direction. ”
Some players enjoy a huge run that changes the course of their career. That has not been the case for Diallo. The Canadian has broken down and earns solid results, with highlights, including a run to this year’s quarterfinals as a qualifying match. He also pushed the final semi-finalist Taylor Fritz to five sets in the second round of Wimbledon.
“There are times this year when I felt that things were falling in the right direction. Certainly, Madrid’s run was a good week,” Diallo said. “The run also in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and even in some losses, where I had the feeling that I was going the right direction such as Taylor in Wimbledon. So, difficult to locate one moment, but it was a constant growth and an accumulation of good matches that I could put together.”
A big difference between Diallo and his countrymen, Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov, is that he did not become professional immediately after his junior career, instead to the University of Kentucky. The former all-American became a professional for the spring of his last year. There was a lot of pressure at the university for his school and teammates, who prepared him for the environment with which he is confronted today.
“It’s about dealing with pressure and expectation. I have not felt this amount of pressure and expectations since the university,” Diallo said. “I think it was at the highest possible level for me. You are busy from your teammates, from your coaches, from the school to perform. It is really a matter of life or death there.
“So maybe it’s a bit too much, but I think it really helped me for the transition to the pros, and I think I can learn and bring many of those experiences and bring them in.”
Liam Draxl and Gabriel Diallo in Toronto. Photo: Andrew Eichenholz/ATP Tour.
One of his teammates was Liam Draxl, who is about to break into the top 100. Diallo is a big righty that is 6’8 ”, but Draxl explained that his friend is more than a big game.
“He is long and maybe a bit intimidating on the field, but he is a soft giant,” said Draxl. “He is just a super nice, modest guy. Just always laughed a lot with gab and he is just a great guy, that’s what I would say. He might be much softer than it seems.”
In their footsteps, Nicolas Arseneault follows, the 18-year-old Canadian who reached the second round in Toronto. The teenager is committed to the University of Kentucky.
“I saw these Canadians doing super good, so I’m so of it, they are doing something there,” said Arseneault. “So I had to bind myself.”
Diallo has taken a long way in a year on the field, and he continues to prepare for the spotlight – as the one he signed in Toronto this week – by not only working on his tennis, but also on his mind.
“I think it is a lot of mental work and is simply exposed to these situations. Just in that environment where you are sown in events and boys are clearly looking forward to playing and trying to play you,” Diallo said. “It will probably be a process thing. And yes, it will be a bit of a different approach. But at the end of the day it is a good thing because you go in the right direction.”
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