US Open | In New York, Gabriel Diallo had a dream

Flushing, New York | There are these players who do not like New York, the city that never sleeps, with its traffic, its sometimes nauseating smells, its deafening noises even at night, which prevent them from sleeping well the day before a match. Gabriel Diallo is not part of it.

• Read also: US Open | What Félix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov and Gabriel Diallo do not speak together

• Read also: US Open | Despite their status, Canadians will have a difficult table … and Lot, Victoria Mboko is the most “lucky”

Diallo loves New York for a long time: “It’s a city that makes you dream. Everyone comes there to realize their dream, whether in the world of finance, or whatever. It is a city of opportunities. “

Finance or … tennis, in the case of Quebecers.

“When I was 12 or 13 years old, I came here with Tennis Canada, and I dreamed of playing it one day. Now I am there, ”smiles Montrealers in one of the interview rooms during the media day of this US Open on Friday.

When “it drinks and it speaks”

Under the immense Arthur-Ashe stadium which ignites so often, late at night, the atmosphere is still calm for the moment. The tournament does not start until Sunday, and Diallo, it will crowd the court on Monday or Tuesday, against the Bosnian Damir Dzhumur, 60e world.

But it was notably for this vocal and unbridled crowd that Gabriel had New York in his sights, even at the start of adolescence. “It is a tournament that I really like by its atmosphere,” notes the 23 -year -old Montrealer, 31e seeded of the United States internationals.

“It’s very volatile. It fits, it comes out, it eats, it drinks, it speaks during the points … It’s something that I really appreciate, as long as it does not go in the overflow, “he continues.

A frenzy that reminds him of his university years, when he wore the colors of the University of Kentucky.

His restaurants and an intimidating stadium

Diallo not only realized his dream by reaching the large table of the US Open for the first time, last year, but his long journey of 2024, qualifications in the third round, allowed him to take his ease in this immense city.

“I have been in New York for a long time last year,” he recalls. I spent there more than two weeks there … I know my spotsI now have my favorite restaurants. ”

And if the Quebecer has not yet experienced the crazy atmosphere that can animate the largest tennis stadium in the world, he lived a similar experience by trampling on the court of Louis-Armstrong, last year, in the third round, against the American Tommy Paul.

A special stadium, with its very high tarrades, where the cheers of the crowd seem even more deafening.

“It’s very intimidating, like terrain,” explains Diallo. Towards the end, it was packed. These are really good memories, and a good source of motivation, because wins or loses, it is for atmospheres like this one that we play. ”

“Win or lose, these are moments that accompany us for the rest of our life.”

Comments (0)
Add Comment