Canada's next generation set to make its mark on the court

Globe and Mail

8 hours ago

Gabriel Diallo served notice when he won his first ATP title two weeks ago at the grass-court Libema Open in the Netherlands. Victoria Mboko recently turned heads by making the third round at Roland Garros. Carson Branstine just booked a spot in her first Grand Slam main draw after slaying big names in Wimbledon qualifying.
They aren't Canada's top-ranked players – not yet anyway – but all three are emerging to form the latest group of Canadian tennis players looking to make a name for themselves on the pro tours.
Canada will have many of its mainstays at the All England Club when main draw action begins June 30 – Félix Auger Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov, 27th and 29th on the ATP Tour, plus Leylah Fernandez, 29th in the WTA world rankings, and doubles star Gabriela Dabrowski (No. 7).
Bianca Andreescu won't be in Wimbledon's main draw. The 2019 U.S. Open champion is currently No. 147 after a few seasons of illness and injury and had to play Wimbledon qualifying for the first time since 2018. She lost to fellow Canadian Branstine, her close friend since their junior years, and sometimes doubles partner.
The 24-year-old Branstine, raised in California, has an American father and Canadian mother, and she began competing for Canada in 2016. Now ranked No. 197, and also balancing a modelling career, Branstine is on the rise, finally healthy for the first time in several years. She's recently notched notable wins. At the Libema Open, she ousted defending champion and then world No. 18 Liudmila Samsonova, and at Wimbledon qualifying this week, she upset the No. 1 seed and Roland Garros semi-finalist Lois Boisson. She's earned a first-round match with world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.
'If it wasn't for my friends and my family I would not be sitting here right now,' said Branstine after qualifying. 'I'd be working a regular job, maybe thinking about and regretting these moments and seeing my friends being successful at Wimbledon and wishing maybe I should have done it, and I'm doing it.'
Diallo, now a career-high No. 41, is automatically in Wimbledon's main draw – surely a welcome development after he fell short in qualifying the past two years.
While Diallo's profile is quickly growing, he's hardly new on the Canadian tennis scene. The native of Montreal has been part of its Davis Cup teams. He also made an impression as a 21-year-old wild card at the 2023 National Bank Open in Toronto, when he earned his first ATP Tour win, upsetting then world No. 21 Daniel Evans. The 6-foot-8 Montrealer, son of a Guinean father and Ukrainian mother, packed a small backcourt at Sobeys Stadium that day two summers ago, displaying his big-man athleticism and hard-serving brand of tennis.
Diallo, 23, followed a different path than other Canadian standouts, like Auger Aliassime and Shapovalov, who shot into the top 50 as teenagers. Diallo did receive coaching from Auger Aliassime's father Sam as a teen, but then took the college route, playing at the University of Kentucky before eventually turning pro in 2023.
But Diallo's current rise began late in 2024, when as a qualifier, he reached the third round of the U.S. Open and was the last Canadian man standing at Flushing Meadows. Then he made the final of an ATP 250-level tournament in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and broke into the top 100.
He's made it clear that was he was no flash in the pan by continuing that roll in 2025, reaching the quarter-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid, before claiming his maiden ATP title in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, and made the quarter-finals at a Wimbledon tune-up in Mallorca this week.
'He's performing on every surface,' said Guillaume Marx, vice-president of high performance at Tennis Canada. 'He played well on clay in Madrid, won a tournament on grass, and his favourite surface is probably hard court, so this is really very encouraging, what we're seeing from Gabriel.'
Coach Martin Laurendeau says Diallo is a tennis buff and avidly watches matches from all years. Tall players are among those he's studied and spoken with, including fellow Canadian Milos Raonic, who at 6 foot 5 made it to world No. 3, dictating with his powerful forehand and serve.
'He's naturally a really good athlete,' said Laurendeau by phone from London, where they were preparing for Wimbledon. 'At Kentucky, the track coach was trying for the three and a half years he was there to poach him for the team, because he's fast and he can run all day. He's born to run and he takes great pride in that.'
Diallo's 6-foot-8 frame isn't ideal for a sport that demands so much lateral movement and quick changes of direction, but Laurendeau lauds his fitness, and they focus on helping him stay healthy for a long career. He says opposing coaches have told him after matches that Diallo's movement surprised and impressed them, seeing as he gets to drop shots.
When points are kept to four or five shots, Diallo can play especially disruptive tennis.
'I don't think anybody wants to play him in the first round or any time in the tournament,' Laurendeau said. 'Especially not in the first rounds when they're trying to get some rhythm and get their foot in the tournament and hit a lot of balls and play a lot of tennis.'
While Diallo will be one to watch this summer, so too will Mboko.
She began 2025 ranked No. 333 is now the No. 96, punctuated by her performance at Roland Garros, where the teenager won three in qualifying and then notched two main draw victories. Mboko looked promising for Wimbledon but lost out in the third round of qualifying this week. Her second Grand Slam will have to wait, unless she's a drawn as a lucky loser. Watch for her to be a big draw in Montreal.
'We've had Félix, Denis, Bianca, Leylah, they've been all been doing really good, and they're all kids we could look up to, especially in my generation,' said Mboko, reflecting after falling short in qualifying on Thursday. 'Carson Branstine just qualified for the main draw, so she's doing really well too. I'm happy for everyone who's doing well. It's always nice to see a Canadian doing really well and making good results. It's like a win for the community.'
It's a moment to digest what the 18-year-old has done in a splashy 2025. The year has also included five straight singles trophies on the ITF Tour, earning her first WTA-level win, taking a set off world No. 11 Paula Badosa in Miami and off world No. 3 Coco Gauff in Rome.
Mboko began working with Nathalie Tauziat in November, the French former pro, world No. 3 and Wimbledon finalist who had briefly coached Andreescu and Genie Bouchard earlier in their careers. Tauziat noticed Mboko reach the same level with Gauff and Badosa for small stretches during those key matches.
'She's a winner,' said Tauziat by phone from London as they trained. 'It's tough to be at the same level for all three sets when she plays Coco, but yeah, she can be there in the future, for sure.'
With files from Paul Waldie in London.