(Toronto) Gabriel Diallo will participate for the rare time in the main draw of a Masters 1000 tournament. Accustomed to the Challenger circuit, the 21-year-old player is feverish at the idea of performing in front of crowded bleachers.
With a smile on his face, he appeared in front of the media, delighted and confident in himself, but above all with the certainty of being able to leave Toronto grown and fulfilled, whatever the result.
The Quebecer will face Daniel Evans in the first round, Monday morning. The 33-year-old veteran is ranked 30th in the world, but the Quebecer thrives on challenges. Even though he got the least favorable matchup among Canadian players, he is not overly scared.
If the 2.03m athlete is in Toronto, it is first and foremost to convince himself: “If I have anything to prove, it’s mostly to myself. To prove to myself that I deserve to be here. That it is the reward for the work that my team and I have done in the last seven months, “said the 140th racket in the world.
Seven months ago, Diallo officially made the leap to the professionals, after a stint in the NCAA with the University of Kentucky. Since then, his progress has been going well.
He has thus confirmed that he represents one of the best hopes in Canadian tennis.
With his compatriots Félix Auger-Aliassime and Alexis Galarneau, they form the largest cohort of Quebec players to take part in the main draw of the National Bank Open since 2001. At the time, Diallo was not even born.
“It’s huge, it’s huge,” he repeated cheerfully. It proves that Quebec tennis is going in the right direction, thanks to players in the past like Martin Laurendeau, Réjean [Genois], Félix [Auger-Aliassime]. »
In turn, Diallo hopes that he and his accomplices can encourage a new generation. “I hope that Alexis, Félix and I can lead by example and inspire more and more young people so that one day it will no longer be three Quebecers, but six, seven, eight or nine. »
That’s also part of why he’s in Toronto.
Vasek Pospisil told La Presse two weeks ago that he wanted to return to the top 30 in the world. A few hours later, at the Granby Challenger, he lost in the first round to Adam Walton, currently 184th in the world.
“In Granby, it was difficult, because I didn’t have much time to prepare for the tournament. I had just had a week of physical training. So I was not in top form,” he confessed on Saturday afternoon.
He was torn by the idea of taking part in the Washington tournament last week, but he preferred to refine his game and stretch the training. “It was better for me to take some rest and train some more. »
Pospisil will face a player from the qualifications in the first round. Even if he arrives in the Queen City with little rhythm, he believes he can find his bearings in front of his own. “There, I had two weeks to train well. Honestly, I feel completely different than two weeks ago,” he swears.
