TORONTO — When Daniel Evans’ final shot sailed wide, Gabriel Diallo took a beat, then let out a scream while blasting a ball pulled from his pocket into the stands. The young Canadian was experiencing the biggest win of his career and there was no mistaking how much it meant to him.
For the second time in as many days at the National Bank Open, Canadian tennis fans experienced a visceral stand-up-and-shout moment. On Day 1, it was a three-set triumph by wild-card entry Milos Raonic. On Tuesday night on the grandstand court at Sobeys Stadium, it was Diallo — the six-foot-eight, 21-year-old who is also here via a wild-card berth — breaking through with his first career tour-level victory.
“Words, I promise you, cannot describe how I feel right now,” Diallo, practically shaking, told Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas on court in the immediate aftermath of his watershed victory.
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The triumph stood in contrast to what was happening for Felix Auger-Aliassime on centre court at the same time. Auger-Aliassme’s season-long struggles continued as the top-ranked Canadian at the event fell 6-4, 6-4 in a first-round match to Australian qualifier Max Purcell. The world No. 12 turned 23 on Tuesday, but any positive birthday vibes went out of the building quickly when he was broken by Purcell in the first game of the match.
Auger-Aliassime acknowledged, when you’re scuffling, it’s difficult to come out of the gate feeling like you’re going to dominate your opponent. “Tough first game, which is understandable [under] the circumstances; I haven’t won a lot of matches lately,” said Auger-Aliassime, whose last victory at an ATP 1000 event came way back in March. “A bit of [internal] tension, that is normal. Overall, I think I wasn’t serving very well, especially on the first serve, which is [usually] a strength for me.”
While Auger-Aliassime credited Purcell for playing a strong match, it’s easy to get the sense the Montrealer is inside his own head a little bit right now. He noted rough patches are an inevitable part of every player’s plight — he certainly endured them before — but that doesn’t make it any easier when you’re caught in the tailspin.
“Every time it feels like the first time,” he said. “I don’t know. Even though I turned 23 today, I still feel like [I did] when I was 18. You still have the same feelings inside, you know? When you go on the court, you’re not so confident and for some reason things are not turning your way and you’re wondering why and you’re trying to stay calm [and] find solutions.
“But I don’t feel like — of course I’m a better player [now than when I was 18] — but I don’t feel like I have all of the solutions all of a sudden and it’s just going to go away. The reality is you need to go out there and show up. Don’t shy away and be scared. I need to — I don’t know how to say [it] — be a man and show up and not be scared to lose.”
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Diallo, meanwhile, certainly learned something about how hard you have to scrap for a win at this level. After taking the first set from Evans in a tiebreaker, Diallo had a chance to serve out the match up 5-4 in the second set. Instead, Evans — fresh off an ATP 500 tournament win in Washington just a couple days ago — broke his serve to square things 5-5. It would have been easy for the inexperienced Diallo — who had also been broken earlier in the set — to get rattled at that point. Instead, he dug deep and broke Evans right back. With another chance to serve out the match, Diallo made no mistake, taking the second set 7-5.
That’s when an array of emotions bubbled over and spilled onto the court.
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“A lot of frustration because I was up a break three times,” said Diallo, who will now face Aussie Alex de Minaur in Round 2 on Wednesday. “I started missing a lot of first serves. So it was starting to get on my nerves a little bit. But I was able to get a couple breaks that brought me back in the lead. And then at the end, I was proud of myself. For, like, maybe the next 20, 25 seconds after the match point, you don’t really know what’s going on. You have no idea; it’s all instinct. It’s just like everything is happening and [your reaction is your reaction]. I was extremely happy.”
That’s an understatement. Diallo was part of Canada’s Davis Cup-winning squad last November and obviously holds that experience dear. In terms of his own personal success, though, this dwarfs anything else that’s come before.
“This is the greatest moment I’ve ever experienced in my life on a tennis court,” he told Bukauskas and the adoring crowd.
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While Diallo, making his NBO debut, certainly entered the night as the underdog against Evans, he did best the Englishman at an early-June Challenger event in the U.K. “We played on grass and we played in England. Conditions were a little different,” Diallo said. “But in terms of game style, I think my team and I were aware of what he was going to try to do and we were aware also of what my goal was. And, luckily, I was able to execute and get the win.”
While understanding his opponent obviously had something to do with the huge result, the bigger development for Diallo on this night is what he learned about himself. You can work for and dream of that first big win all you want, but until you get the hay in the barn, something about it can feel unreachable.
“Something that’s definitely going to stick with me [from this win] is that no matter what’s going on in the match — and I know it’s really difficult — but if you can try to remain calm and try to remain still and try to be unphased with everything that’s happening, [it’s for the best],” he said. “I was up a break multiple times in the second set, served for the match at 5-4. And the nerves come in. And [trying to win your] first ATP match; I think I was 0-for-three or 0-for-four in ATP main-draw matches. So the doubt starts to creep in. But it’s part of the game and everyone goes through that.
“What I’m proud of is I was able to bounce back right away. And every time I got broken, I was able to break right back and it also sends a message to my opponent.”
Indeed, it felt like Diallo’s win signalled something meaningful to the entire tennis world.
