Where Canadian men's tennis stands after National Bank Open

TORONTO — On the 17th floor of the five-star, Park Hyatt Hotel in downtown Toronto, the traveling ATP media and local contingent alike are assembled for the National Bank Open draw ceremony in the Terrace Room, which presents an unparalleled panoramic view of the city’s skyline.

Alexis Galarneau, an upstart 24-year-old from Laval, Que., is in attendance, as is Jannik Sinner, one of the superstars of the next generation. Sinner takes the podium with a megawatt smile and the tournament begins in earnest.

Galarneau is two years senior to Sinner but doesn’t have the same international profile, although he’s coming off a victory in the Granby ATP Challenger event in July. The draw ceremony invites curiosity about the relatively mysterious Canadian, who is glowing in advance of the biggest tournament of his career to date.

“You never want to look past your first round,” Galarneau said. “If I were at the Challenger level, I would probably try to keep myself from focusing on that first round. But here, indirectly, with the level of play in the first round, you have to focus your all on the first round. This is my first time at a draw ceremony and so far, it’s been awesome.”

Here are a few vignettes that illustrate the state of Canadian men’s tennis

Going on a journey through the past to appreciate the glossy present

Monday’s primetime session is billed around Milos Raonic’s opening match against Frances Tiafoe — which delivers on its promise, and then some — but before it kicks off, Canada’s Davis Cup-winning team are presented with their championship rings in front of the home crowd for their remarkable accomplishment, winning the trophy for the first time last year. Tennis is a resolutely individual game, but the true camaraderie that exists between the current stars of Canadian tennis and the links to the past operates as a throughline, but there’s a touching human element on display.

Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov (who pulled out of the NBO due to injury), Vasek Pospisil, Gabriel Diallo, captain Frank Dancevic and Galarneau take the court to a standing ovation, after the legends of the past are introduced, including Pierre Lamarche, Bill Cowan, Martin Laurendeau, Peter Polansky, Dale Power and Daniel Nestor, among others.

“It’s a special night. I just wanted to acknowledge the players that have played the Davis Cup before,” Auger-Aliassime said to Sportsnet’s Arash Madani before the team photo. “I have a special thought for Milos, who is going to play right now. He’s been an inspiration. All the guys on the team of course, Vasek, Daniel, when I was a kid watching them it was very inspiring.

"It was a dream to play the Davis Cup and I think that to win it, it proves that with hard work, with patience, with passion and with teamwork, you can do amazing things in this life.”

Raonic later admits he’s not the type of person that’s overly sentimental and prone to reminiscing, but he provides an expansive answer on the importance of last year’s title.

“Obviously, getting the recognition here in front of [the home crowd], seeing them get that recognition must have been something incredibly special,” Raonic said during Monday’s post-match press conference.

“But like I've said a few times now, I think it's by far the biggest moment in Canadian tennis just because it represents a much longer heritage, a much longer lifespan. For example, you could compare it to Bianca [Andreescu] winning the US Open. I think it's much bigger just because there's been a lot of people involved in Davis Cup in Canada from the players, staff, volunteers, home ties, away ties, the fans that decide very enthusiastically to travel to all these places, bringing out these big cardboard cutouts. And that's only since I've been around.

“I think it's an enormous achievement.”

An exercise in nostalgia turns into an unexpected, dramatic homecoming party

Raonic’s opening match is a litmus test among the partisan crowd: some are expecting a funeral procession, some are longing for nostalgia. Instead, we enter the theatre of the absurd at the end of the first set, something that Raonic hasn’t been subject to during his 15-year career.

During a heated first-set tiebreaker, Tiafoe crashes into the net after hitting a cross-court winner onto the ad side and is awarded the set point. Raonic is furious and both players plead their case to chair umpire Fergus Murphy. Murphy, who umpired Wimbledon's men’s final earlier this summer, brought the supervisor onto the court. The crowd is incensed and boos reverberate throughout Sobeys Stadium. After a deliberation that seemingly lasts forever, Murphy upholds the call, the crowd is livid and Raonic smashes his racket.

Raonic is galvanized by the incident and though he works with his trainer down six games to five in the second set, he rallies from this potential setback and plays his best tennis in two years, winning 6-7 (14), 7-6 (4), 6-3.

No one is expecting a Cinderella run from Raonic but when he defeats Taro Daniel the following day, Canada’s most visible men’s tennis player is once again thrust into the spotlight.

Galarneau submits his best professional effort in loss to Francisco Cerundolo

Galarneau is certainly up to the ATP 1000 level but world No. 21 Francisco Cerundolo is pushing him to his limit. After stumbling out of the gate, Galarneau wins the second set 6-4. And then Cerundolo rises to the occasion. Galarneau is doing well to extend rallies and, frankly, playing the more aesthetically pleasing style, but Cerundolo’s power game leads the Argentinian to a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory.

It’s a valiant effort from Galarneau and he’s undeterred by the result. Galarneau is on the rise and sets some ambitious-yet-reasonable goals for the remainder of the season.

“I knew I had the level, but, you know, to bring it again on centre court in front of the Canadian crowd, I think I can be proud of that,” Galarneau said during his post-match press conference.

“The next step is to take out a top 30 player. So hopefully next year or even this year, I will get more chances at top players like this.”

Gabriel Diallo is an ascending Canadian star, enjoying the rigours of pro tennis

Gabriel Diallo emerged as the breakout Canadian star of the tournament after defeating Daniel Evans and now he’s reaping both the benefits and perils of his growing profile. Diallo is squaring off against Alex de Minaur, one of the fastest players on tour at the grandstand Wednesday and is holding his own.

The difference between collegiate and professional tennis can be in the margins, however, and de Minaur forces Diallo to hit shots on the run while moving to his right — an identifiable weakness — as the 21-year-old Montreal native can’t get enough lift over the net to end a competitive first set.

Diallo will surely become a top-100 player, but he admits that de Minaur is the most competitive player he’s played against. You don’t become a Grand Slam contender overnight, and this is a stepping stone.

“You know, coming from college, it was a little bit all over the place,” Diallo said during Wednesday’s post-match press conference. “You know, when you win, it's great. Everyone stretches. But then when you lose, everyone is in the van and, Oh, you got to go to the next one. Coach is not happy. So you don't have time to stretch and stuff.

“But here, of course, winning matters. But, you know, at the end of the day, there's so many tournaments, so many events, and the career is so long. So if you dwell on yourself after a loss and you decide, 'Okay, I'm not going to stretch,' it shouldn't really matter if you win or lose. You have to stick to your routine, and that's something I'm going to try to do in the future.”

Raonic falls apart after rain delay, appreciative of his place in Canadian tennis history

Raonic takes centre court in the marquee matchup of the morning session against upstart Mackenzie McDonald, but after finally finding a rhythm through the opening six games, it begins to pour, which causes a one hour and thirty-three minute rain delay.

By the time the sun comes up and the court has dried off, Raonic is completely out of sorts. He’s a prototypical serve-and-volley player but his serve is failing him. Raonic double faults three times in the span of 10 minutes, the first of which grants McDonald a first-set victory.

Raonic is easily defeated by McDonald in the first game of the second set, then continues to struggle with his accuracy on serve and is down 2-0 quickly as audible groans reverberate through the stands. The groans devolve into a lightly contemptuous tone, before the inevitable “let’s go Milos!” chants pick back up.

And for a moment, they seem to work.

Raonic steadies himself and wins a game for the first time in nearly half an hour on a crushing forehand winner. That’s as good as it gets for the hometown hero. Raonic can’t get out of his own way, hitting several unforced errors into the net and McDonald cruises to a 6-3, 6-3 victory.

You have to calibrate your expectations accordingly. Raonic has been on hiatus for two years due to injury and he’s never been known for his ability to track down returns. It’s been widely suggested that the end of the 2023 hard court season would be his swan song but galvanized by his performance at home, Raonic is non-committal about the future with the aim of returning to Toronto in 2025.

In his post-match press conference, Raonic also points out that the Big Three — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic — have altered what’s considered normal, given that they would routinely advance to the semifinals of major tournaments. You have to appreciate the moment and Raonic, who isn’t known for grandiose displays of emotion, is cognizant of his place in Canadian tennis history, soaking in the audible standing ovation he received upon exiting.

Eight years senior to Shapovalov and nearly a decade older than Auger-Aliassime, Raonic is well aware that the National Bank Open holds a special place in his venerated 15-year professional career.

“It's one of the most meaningful things,” Raonic said of the ovation post-match Thursday. “I didn't really get a glimpse of it. I got the sense of it just through the noise. And I think it's probably the most special and endearing thing about these three matches, through the ups and downs of it all, that energy that you can't quantify in any way or you can't put a name to it.

"You can kind of just close your eyes and wish you were kind of in that same scenario many times over. But I'm extremely grateful for that. And, you know, all the ups and downs over the last months and years, that makes it worth it far and beyond.”