In 2021, after losing in the third round at Wimbledon and further free-falling out of the top 40, Taylor Fritz was on his way back to the hotel with his girlfriend when he grabbed her phone and banged off a note to himself: “No one in the world is playing more below their potential than you. You’re f—-ing good but snap out of it man.’’
Fast forward four years and a game rebuilt around knee surgery and the 27-year-old is No. 4 in the world in men’s tennis. Though no American man has won a singles title at the All England Lawn and Tennis Club since Pete Sampras a quarter-century ago, Fritz made it to the semifinal last month, where defending champion Carlos Alcaraz knocked him out in four sets.
Yet the most epic match for the Californian on those hallowed green lawns was a gruelling roller-coaster five-setter against an upstart Canadian barely wet behind the Grand Slam ears. Gabriel Diallo gave Fritz fits.
Until Friday evening at the National Bank Open, that was the only time these two had met across a net.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of this encounter, let us pay passing homage to the parents from afar who raised their kids here to become tennis phenoms, origin stories that play nicely into the Canadian ethos of mishmash culturalism, a land of honey and opportunity. Félix Auger-Aliassime’s father immigrated here from Togo; Bianca Andreescu’s parental units are from Romania; Denis Shapovalov’s folks arrived from the Soviet Union via Israel. Milos Raonic’s parents set forth from Montenegro.
Collectively they’ve given this country a generation of racquet boldface, putting Canada on the map as a tennis nation of some flex.
Diallo’s mom is Ukrainian, formerly a member of that country’s national handball team. Pops hails from Guinea. They met whilst studying to become engineers. And their progeny is this stunning spectacle of a six-foot-eight athlete, with legs that go on forever and platinum peroxided hair. (A dye job that preceded his first ATP Tour title — in s’-Hertogenbosch, in June — so he kept it for good luck vibes.)
At six-foot-five, Fritz is no shrimp either. He has 10 tour titles, including the prestigious Indian Wells.
This isn’t even an anomaly anymore. Félix Auger-Aliassime hasn’t won a single match at this
He had his hands full with Diallo though, at Wimbledon, impressed especially with Diallo’s booming serve. He is reminiscent of Raonic but Diallo has a far more varied game with powerful ground strokes and rally endurance.
“A lot of times, these big servers, really tall guys, when they serve their slider serves, they hit them pretty hard and big,’’ Fritz had observed. “He does a great job of getting that cutter, like, short and really cutting it away. It’s amazing.’’
Everybody was expecting a wang-dang-doodle rematch and reprise of Wimbledon in their third-round encounter at the Masters 1000 É«É«À² tour stop, the showcased night-session match on Centre Court at Sobeys Stadium. Diallo was the last Canadian man standing in a 96-man tournament where both Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov crapped out in their openers.
Diallo is the third-highest ranked Canadian after rocketing up 100 ranking points in the past year, pulling into the York University facility at No. 36 and seeded 27th after two years as a wild card. Fritz is seeded second behind Alexander Zverev.
For his second shot at Fritz, both Diallo and a home-boosting audience were keyed up.
MONTREAL - Anastasija Sevastova wasn’t expecting a result like this. A year ago, she wasn’t …
Yeah, about last night …
Buried my lede: Diallo got whacked 6-4, 6-2.
Clearly too keyed up was the Canadian. A rough start to the match, broken early, with wayward shotmaking, double-faulting twice in his first service game. Fritz scarcely had anything to do as Diallo beat himself up, flailing atypically, racking up unforced errors. He looked to have settled down and found his groove in the fifth game, with back-to-back aces on a hold from 15-40 down. Still, it was an easy romp for Fritz, despite being a mere 48 per cent on first-serve percentage.
In the second set, Diallo continued to leak errors off the forehand wing, which was clearly targeted. He was broken early again in the third game. “Up 40-love on my serve, getting broken shouldn’t happen. Horrendous job on my end.’’
Diallo double-faulted in Game 7 at 5-2, handing the double break to Fritz, who served for the match. He was good for it on his second match point, dropping the hammer at an hour and 15 minutes.
Denis Shapovalov was the featured match on Centre Court, coming off his second tour title this
“Very, very disappointing,’’ a downcast Diallo said afterward. “I feel like I let a lot of people down today. It’s not a good feeling.’’
That’s 17 wins in 20 matches for Fritz, who is onto the round of 16 to face Jiri Lehecka, from the Czech Republic, who earlier Friday disposed of Frenchman Arthur Fils 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
That’s 67 years since a Canadian man last won the only Canadian pit stop on the tour. Asked if he took at least a bit of pride from being in being the final Canadian to bow out, Diallo snorted.
“Playing like this, not really.’’
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