Lost: One US Open junior boys' singles championship trophy!

MONTREAL – It was a long, exhausting week for Canadian junior Félix Auger-Aliassime at the US Open.

So you can understand if the 16-year-old couldn't remember where all his stuff was after he got up at the crack of dawn Monday and boarded a plane home.

When the newly-crowned US Open junior boys' singles champion landed, cruised through Customs and was about to head down to collect his checked bag, he realized something was missing.

Knapsack? Check.

Carry-on sports bag? Check.

The Tiffany trophy, encased in its trademark blue box?

Well, two out of three ain't bad. Oopsie!

Beyond the exhaustion and the early alarm, what probably crushed him was actually having a decent bulkhead seat on the small Air Canada plane from LaGuardia (he practically had to apologize, very politely, for needing the leg room to the squatter who was already sitting in it; the man was peeved at having to move to his own assigned seat in the back).

It was a big upgrade from the middle seat Auger-Aliassime had for the long flight home from Paris after losing that heartbreaker in the boys' singles final there. But the downside was he couldn't stash his backpack under the seat in front of him, because there was no seat. And his gear was packed into the overhead bins in three different places because the flight was jammed.

But once you go through Customs, there's no going back. They frown on that sort of thing.

Luckily, the Air Canada baggage agent – who recognized Auger-Aliassime immediately along with his colleague; both were pretty excited to congratulate him – went on a mission and ran back to the arrivals gate to reclaim the booty.

He was back in less than 10 minutes – the better for Auger-Alassime to get home and get every hour of sleep he can for a couple of days before he has to leave again for Hungary, to help Canada defends its title at the Junior Davis Cup finals.

Here's his guardian angel, with the glassware. (The doubles plate was safely packed in his carry-on).

Auger-Alassime is the No. 2 junior in the world as of today in the ITF rankings. He trails only Stefanos Tsitsipas, whom he defeated in straight sets in the semi-final on Saturday.

Some of the Canadian Davis Cup squad in Halifax sent him their congrats this morning, which is pretty cute.