So small is the village in which Gabriel Diallo’s father was raised in the West African nation of Guinea, that when they recently sat down together to find it on a world map they couldn’t.
It was nowhere to be found.
The 6-foot-8 Canadian with the booming serve and surprisingly nimble big-man athleticism is having a much easier time mapping his way through the draw here at the 2024 US Open, only his second appearance in a Grand Slam main draw. On Thursday, the 22-year-old qualifier scored the biggest win of his nascent pro career, stunning 24th-seeded Frenchman Arthur Fils before a boisterous capacity crowd on Court 17.
“He’s a great player, a great server,” Fils would attest afterward. “It’s not easy to break him.”
Few would have predicted that Diallo, not Felix Auger-Aliassime or Denis Shapovalov, would be the last Canadian man standing in Flushing Meadows. But the Montreal native has been coming into his own over the past few months.
“I’m super-happy, especially the way I’ve been playing throughout the summer,” he told USOpen.org. “I’ve been able to put up some good matches, continuously bringing a good level, giving myself chances to win.”
“I’ve been able to put up some good matches, continuously bringing a good level, giving myself chances to win.”
Diallo nearly didn’t make it out of the qualifying rounds. He saved two match points against France’s Titouan Droguet in the second round, escaping with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory.
Diallo improved to 4-3 against the Top-30 competition with his upset of Fils, having also defeated 18th-ranked Lorenzo Musetti in a match that helped Canada qualify for the 2023 Davis Cup Finals. Last month, he claimed the Chicago Men’s Challenger, unbroken though five matches.
“It wasn’t like I was banging 25 aces a match,” he reflected. “I was just playing really well behind my serve. I think that gave me the confidence to know that even when I’m not serving great, I can still give myself some good chances to win.”
Diallo cut his teeth at the University of Kentucky, where he reached the quarterfinal round in singles at the 2022 NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championships. An All-American in both singles and doubles, he also helped the Wildcats reach the program’s first-ever team final at the NCAAs. He said he’s never second-guessed his decision to play on the collegiate level.
“For me, the match count was low when I was 18. I played mainly in Canada. But the level wasn’t there; the maturity wasn’t there,” he said. “I think college was great because it helped me balance school and tennis, and it made me more mature as well. And the match count got pretty high. You play a lot of matches, you compete and gain a lot of confidence.”
“I think college was great because it helped me balance school and tennis, and it made me more mature as well."
The atmosphere on Court 17 for his match against Fils felt a whole lot like a college match, with fans shouting out their allegiances between points, and sometimes even during them.
“It was fun. It’s what we work for, to give ourselves a chance to play in front of amazing fans like this,” said Diallo, who will next face 14th seed Tommy Paul of the United States. “Out of all the Slams, I would say that the atmosphere here is something different. They really get into it.”
Diallo gives a shout-out to fellow countrymen Auger-Aliassime and 2016 Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic. Before heading off to college, he trained with FAA’s father, Sam.
“Milos is the one who broke the barrier for Canadian tennis, especially in singles,” he said. “We have had guys in the past who broke Top 50, but Milos was the first to break Top 10 in singles and make the final at Wimbledon. It made us all believe that we had a chance to do it as well. And Felix, he’s been a big inspiration for me. He helped me a lot in my transition from college to the pros.”
Diallo might not be able to point out his father’s home village on a map, but the man who describes himself as “pretty laid back, not stressed about much” revels in his global roots. His father later headed to the former Soviet Union, where he met Gabriel’s Ukrainian mother, Iryna. They would eventually land in Montreal, where their son was born in 2001.
“I’m very open and very proud of my heritage on both sides,” he said. “Thinking of my family members watching me in Guinea, watching me in Ukraine — it gives me a lot of strength.”
