No rest for the heroes. Félix Auger-Aliassime showed up tired but all smiles at the Jarry Park stadium to open the National Bank Open. The Quebec tennis star hasn’t had time to recover since his bronze medal at the Olympic Games. He’s counting on the crowd’s support to put on a good showing at this tournament that promises to be filled with local stars.
The world’s No. 19 racket had no days off after a week of rare intensity at the Olympics. His last match ended late Saturday night, and his flight from Paris to Montreal on Sunday was delayed. “I wouldn’t say I had adequate sleep,” he said in a press scrum. “I arrived here in the middle of the night.”
No matter: on Monday afternoon, he was already hitting balls at the IGA stadium during a training session in front of a crowd. The rain did not dampen the determination of the fans who came to congratulate “Félix”, the first Olympic medalist tennis player in more than 20 years for Canada.
Playing in front of his own people motivates him, he said after this little gift to the crowd. “More than it takes energy, it motivates me. Montreal is not a tournament like the others.”
Injury-free and playing excellent tennis, he will face an endurance challenge. It is this same endurance that failed him in the consolation semi-final in Paris. On Tuesday morning, he will face Flavio Cobolli, a 22-year-old Italian ranked 48th in the world.
Other Canadians to watch
Auger-Aliassime is not the only Canadian expected on the Montreal courts. Six representatives of the maple leaf will try to win the honors.
The first surprise could come from Alexis Galarneau. The 25-year-old from Laval performed very well in his first qualifying match on Sunday, but the weather spoiled his second game on Monday. The score was one set per side when the match was interrupted due to rain. The winner will be known when the match resumes on Tuesday morning. Otherwise, we can always see him in doubles alongside his friend Félix Auger-Aliassime.
Another young Quebecer, Gabriel Diallo, is also on the radar. He had never hit a volley in his life just three years ago, and yet the 22-year-old athlete is already participating in the main tournament for the first time. He will no doubt have his racket full when he takes on Russian Karen Khachanov, ranked 22nd in the world, on Tuesday.
Denis Shapovalov, as well as veterans Vasek Pospisil and Milos Raonic will also try to make history. No Canadian has won this tournament since Robert Bédard… in 1958!
On the women’s side, the tournament got off to a bad start for the red and white delegation. Eugenie Bouchard collapsed at the very beginning of the course in Toronto. She let a precious match point slip away and was unable to qualify after a defeat at the hands of Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima. It remains to be seen what Leylah Fernandez has up her sleeve.
The new generation has arrived
This year, the National Bank Open marks a change of era on the planet of tennis.
Exit le Big 3 : Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will not participate in the tournament. Only the latter, at 37, continues to demonstrate his dominance with a gold medal won in singles at the Olympic Games. The other two are retired or very close to it.
It is now the Italian Sinner (22 years old, 1st racket in the world), the Spaniard Alcaraz (21 years old, 3rd) and the German Zverev (27 years old, 4th) who covet the world top-3. Followed by a bunch of young players like Hurkacz (27 years old, 6th), Rublev (26 years old, 8th), Ruud (25 years old, 9th) or Tsitsipas (25 years old, 11th) who are also trying to carve out a place for themselves at the top.
Alcaraz and his fearsome drop shots won’t be there, so we’ll have to watch the favorite, Jannik Sinner. Like Auger-Aliassime, he too has a special relationship with the Canadian Open tennis tournament. He won his first-ever Masters 1000 tournament in Canada, just last year. A hip injury slowed his start to the 2024 season, then a nasty bout of tonsillitis put a damper on his participation in the Olympic Games. All that is behind him. He said he feels “physically very good” and is ready to win everything this week on his “favorite surface.”
