At 6-foot-8, 198 pounds, his new-look hair a close-cropped bleach blonde, Gabriel Diallo cut a striking figure in June on the grass courts of the Libema Open, the annual ATP 250 stop an hour’s car ride southeast of Amsterdam.
The towering Canadian with the booming serve and veteran cool well beyond his 23 years was all smiles, his maiden tour-level title in hand thanks to a 7-5, 7-6(8) triumph over Belgian Zizou Bergs.
“Oh man, I don’t have the words,” said the Montreal native. “It’s something that you dream of for your whole life since you were a little kid, to get an ATP Tour title. I’m very happy, not only for myself but for my whole team.”
Stadium 17 flashback
That Diallo was able to summon the kind of level that saw him drop just a single set over five matches en route to the title didn’t surprise anyone who tracked his main-draw debut at the US Open last year. A former collegiate standout at the University of Kentucky, where he earned All-American honors in both singles and doubles, Diallo played his way through qualifying to reach the third round in Flushing Meadows. His run included a high-profile 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4 upset of 24th-seeded Frenchman Arthur Fils in Stadium 17.
As Fils would attest afterward, “It’s not easy to break him.”
But Diallo, whose parents, Iryna and Moubassirou, hail from Ukraine and Guinea, respectively, is determined to avoid any ‘servebot’ typecasting. He’s putting in the hard hours when it comes to his returns, his transition game and holding his own from the baseline. He’s honing his mindset, too, doing his damnedest not to live or die with each and every win and loss on his journey.
“Every week you go into a tournament hoping that your life is going to change,” he said. “But at the end of the day, it’s just sports. I try to make it not as big a deal as it is.”
Davis Cup breakthrough
Diallo’s big break came in 2023, when he upset 18th-ranked Lorenzo Musetti, 7-6(8), 6-4, in a 3-0 shutout of Italy, helping Canada qualify for the Davis Cup Finals. It carried some added meaning being able to do so alongside his countrymen, adding to a tradition that has produced the likes of 2016 Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic, Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime. Diallo was briefly coached by Auger-Aliassime’s father, Sam.
“Milos is the one who broke the barrier for Canadian tennis, especially in singles,” said Diallo, now coached by countryman Martin Laurendeau. “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.”
Career-high ranking
The laid-back Diallo, someone who is perhaps happiest in front of a flatscreen watching football or basketball, came into 2025 at No. 87 in the ATP rankings. His goal was to crack the Top 50 by year’s end. Halfway through the year, he was already there, perched at a career-high No. 35. With a return to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and the US Open still ahead, who knows what he might achieve.
