Martin Laurendeau sees progression in Gabriel Diallo’s game

(Montreal) Gabriel Diallo might have had to go to work Monday in New York, even though the day coincides with Labor Day in Canada and the United States. However, the 22-year-old Montrealer would probably have relished the time spent working, as he would have undoubtedly been surrounded by thousands of spectators, perhaps treading the biggest tennis stage on the planet and battling the number one player in the world.

Ultimately, there was no meeting between Diallo and Italian Jannik Sinner in the round of 16 of the U.S. Open, in a match that likely would have been played in Arthur Ashe Stadium at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and perhaps even in prime time.

American Tommy Paul, 14^e world player, prevented him from doing so by eliminating him in four sets, Saturday afternoon on the court of the Louis-Armstrong stadium, at the end of a battle which lasted nearly three and a half hours and which required two tie breaks, one of which went to Diallo’s advantage.

“It would have been another step up his learning curve,” said Martin Laurendeau, a coach with Tennis Canada, during a telephone interview with The Canadian Press from New York on Sunday afternoon.

“These are things we dream of as tennis players. We are not afraid of these situations. We dream of playing against the best players in the world, on big courts, in big tournaments. Gabriel demonstrated this in the Davis Cup (in September 2023) when he was very young and inexperienced and he had beaten the 18^e world (Lorenzo Musetti). He really wasn’t afraid. He was really excited about that idea. We were hoping to hold on long enough to get there,” admitted Laurendeau, alluding to the possible clash with Sinner.

But it may only be a postponement. Because since his two victories in the Davis Cup play-off match against South Korea last February in Montreal, Diallo has visibly improved.

His progress will be tangible in the ATP ranking, where he is assured of 103.^e rank — the highest of his young career — when he was 132^e seven months ago.

His progress was also evident during his run in the men’s singles main draw at Flushing Meadows, where he recorded his first two career Grand Slam victories, including one against Frenchman Arthur Fils, 24.^e to the world.

And at times on Saturday he caused Paul serious trouble.

“He’s more complete,” said Laurendeau, who has been working alongside Diallo for two years now in his role focused on the transition within the men’s side of Tennis Canada, and who admits to having a lot of fun doing it.

“It takes matches like that. The Grand Slams, the Davis Cups, where you play with a lot at stake, where you have the pressure of representing the country, all that makes you grow. You have to go through that to develop your game.

“The player we saw in February is someone who played the tennis he had at that time. He played as he was capable of. Since then, he has evolved. He has played one more clay court season, one more grass court season. High balls, low balls, going for angles, all the complexity and subtleties of tennis, he has sought out other experiences. I still see a good difference. He has progressed well in terms of the complexity of his game and also his skills as a tennis player.”

When asked to analyze Diallo’s recent performances, Laurendeau paints a picture that takes into account the summer season as a whole.

“With the Olympic Games at the same time as several tournaments preceding the US Open, I was with Gabriel and it was in our periodization, coming back from Europe, from clay and grass tournaments, to play as many matches as possible to make the transition to hard, which is Gabriel’s favorite surface,” explains Laurendeau.

“We wanted to optimize this period in our calendar with the tournament in Montreal, the tournament in Flushing Meadows and a Davis Cup afterwards (in Manchester in about 10 days) to arrive at our peak. »

According to Laurendeau, that’s what happened, but it went unnoticed with the Olympic Games attracting all the attention.

“Gabriel won a Challenger tournament in Chicago [à la fin juillet]he made the quarterfinals the following week. In Montreal, he fell against a big gun (Karen Khachanov, 22^e After that, we went to Cary, North Carolina, for a very tough Challenger where Gabriel, then ranked 140^ewent through qualifying. He qualified, he made the semi-finals and we won five games there,” he said.

All of this, according to Laurendeau, allowed Diallo to show up in New York with a good baggage of matches in his body and in excellent mental and psychological shape.

Proof of this is, no doubt, the fact that he saved two match points during his second duel in the qualifying round against the Frenchman Titouan Droguet.

At Flushing Meadows, Diallo was only playing in his second Grand Slam main draw, after Roland-Garros last May. He lost in five sets, after conceding the first two, to Japan’s Kei Nishikori in a first-round match that lasted 4 hours and 26 minutes.

In New York, Laurendeau was hoping not only for Diallo to make it through qualifying, but to win at least one round.

Laurendeau said he likes the way Diallo handles games three out of five, especially since he’s only played four in his career.

“I thought he did an exceptional job against Nishikori. There were some very frustrating moments in the match, but [Diallo] is a guy with a good head on his shoulders. He was really in uncharted territory and he handled the physical part, the mental part, the tactical part like a veteran.

“As Gabriel has done every time he has played very high level players, in the top 30he’s doing very well. He’s competing and he’s beaten some. We see the potential. Now, we have to put ourselves in a position to have more opportunities to play against these players, the biggest tournaments, the biggest brackets and really settle in where his potential will take him.”