Andreescu, Auger-Aliassime, Shapovalov: Why are our northern neighbors producing so many great young players?
Canadian tennis is having a moment. Lots of them, actually. At times this spring, it felt as if players from the Maple Leaf nation were having all the moments.
Felix Auger-Aliassime, 18 and seemingly going on 25, reached a final in Rio de Janeiro and a semifinal in Miami and has made a comet-like race up the rankings. After starting the season at No. 109, he had cracked the Top 30 by the end of April. Along the way, AugerAliassime wowed fans and flummoxed veteran opponents with his technical proficiency and emotional self-control. A new FAA was suddenly vying for control of the airspace.
Bianca Andreescu, also 18, somehow managed to top Auger-Aliassime when she beat four Top 20 opponents to win one of the WTA’s most prestigious titles in Indian Wells. She vaulted herself from No. 178 to No. 23, and showed off a canny, wide-ranging game and a theatrical moxy that led The New Yorker’s Gerald Marzorati to say that watching the rookie was “like watching Clayton Kershaw pitch.”
Denis Shapovalov, 19, cheered on his two young compatriots while they stole the headlines from him in Indian Wells. Then he stole them right back in Miami when he out-gunned fellow Next Gen stars Stefanos Tsitsipas and Frances Tiafoe to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal. With that result, Shapovalov reached a career-high ranking of No. 20 and reminded everyone that he has the leaping athleticism to someday win major titles.
This story is from the July/August 2019 edition of Tennis.
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This story is from the July/August 2019 edition of Tennis.
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