The Bank of China Hong Kong Open’s marathon man, Gabriel Diallo, has revealed how he once bumped Maria Sharapova out of the headlines to signal his own major ambitions.
During a coming-of-age 2024, Diallo won five matches at the US Open and reached his first ATP 250 final to announce his arrival as one of the world’s most promising talents.
The 23-year-old is among a crop of talented Canadian players aiming to end the country’s male grand slam champion drought.
And Diallo, who will meet No 2 seed Lorenzo Musetti in the Hong Kong second round on Thursday, said his Ukrainian mum had unearthed documented evidence of her son’s long-standing major ambitions.
“I don’t remember doing this, but I was nine or 10 and had a tennis magazine that had a headline, ‘Sharapova makes Australian Open semi-final’,” Diallo told the Post.
“I crossed her name out and replaced it with mine, so it read, ‘Gabriel Diallo makes Australian Open semi-final’.