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Félix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov team up to win the first all-Canadian Grand Slam junior title in 25 years at the US Open
NEW YORK – If young Canadians Félix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov, aged 15 and 16, had any ideas about being impressed with themselves, so close to a title in their first trip to the US Open juniors, they were quickly brought down to earth during the three-hour rain delay in the middle of their boys’ doubles final Sunday.
“We went to the lounge, and we saw (actor) Bradley Cooper, so we were kind of excited, thinking, ‘Should we go and take a picture, or not?’ Then we saw Roger’s whole family, and Djokovic’s family,” Shapovalov said after the rookie pair dispatched Americans Brandon Holt and Riley Smith 7-5, 7-6 (3) to win the title.
They tried to be cool. “We just stared a little bit,” he added, laughing.
The rain delay couldn’t have come at a better time. After a solid first set, the pair was broken after a string of missed first serves by Shapovalov and some missed volleys by Auger-Aliassime. They found themselves down 5-3, 15-30 with the Americans serving for the second set and with all the momentum when the skies opened.
“We didn’t really think about the title, the US Open thing, just thought about our game. About how our attitude should be when we came back out on court,” Auger-Aliassime said.
Oh, and about Bradley Cooper.
“I wasn’t feeling very well on the court. I was playing at a pretty good level but my serve wasn’t there, and they were just playing incredible,” Shapovalov said. “We got a chance to think about something else, put all our emotions away. I was getting too mad on court.
“So when we came back out we were firing, mentally and physically. I got some tips on my serve from my coach, too; so that helped.”
Auger-Aliassime hit a huge return and two points after they finally came back on court, as the band was playing inside Arthur Ashe Stadium and Federer and Djokovic were preparing to play their singles final, they were back on serve.
“At that point I thought, ‘Okay, we’re very close. We have so much momentum. We can do this,” Shapovalov said.
They saved a set point on their own serve, then rolled through the tiebreaker to win a most welcome but most unexpected title, the first by an all-Canadian junior doubles team in 25 years.
In 1990, Sébastian Lareau and Sébastien Leblanc won the doubles at both the French Open and Wimbledon junior events. The last Canadian to win a junior title was Toronto’s Carol Zhao, who won the 2013 Australian Open juniors with Ana Konjuh of Croatia.
“When I came here, my expectations were not that high. I knew I was playing a good level, knew I could win a couple rounds in singles in doubles, but never expected to win the doubles title,” said Auger-Aliassime, who added that all the serving and volleying he did on the way to the title was going to be great for his game in the long term – not to mention their confidence.
The two will team up in a few weeks at the junior Davis Cup finals in Madrid, Spain, where the format is two singles, and a deciding doubles.
“If it’s going to be tied at 1-1 they’re going to think, ‘Hey, these guys won the US Open in doubles.’ It’s going to be such an advantage,” Shapovalov said.
The 16-year-old, whose idol is Federer (whose match on the big court didn’t have the same happy outcome), nevertheless had his moment.
“I was staring at Roger the other day, and we had some awkward eye contact,” Shapovalov said sheepishly.
Who stopped staring first?
“I did. He was looking around the room and he just noticed me staring at him. At least he smiled, and he laughed about it.”
