ATP Tour

How Gabriel Diallo turned his parents' journey into his own

Gabriel Diallo speaks with the kind of humility that makes you stop and listen. There’s a calmness in his voice: Not the tone of someone boasting about his success, but someone deeply aware of the path that led him there.

The 24-year-old Canadian knows that his journey didn’t start on a tennis court, but back in 1991 when his parents left Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union in search of a better life. Diallo's Ukrainian mother, Iryna, and his Guinean father, Moubassirou, opted to stage their next chapter in Montreal, Canada.

“I’m sure they had dreams and ambitions when they were living there,” Diallo told ATPTour.com in Paris. “They had to put that on hold and move to Canada and start a new life. I’m sure they didn’t come in with the most amount of money. I’m just aware of what they had to go through to put me in this position.

“My mum had to work two jobs, my dad had to work a job he didn’t necessarily like. Being conscious of that is why I try to give my all and put my best efforts into everything I do. It’s my way of giving back to them.”

Diallo, who is enjoying a rock-solid 2025 season, is currently reaping the rewards of that sense of gratitude. The Montreal native climbed to his career-high No. 33 in the PIF ATP Rankings in August after he lifted his maiden ATP Tour trophy on the grass in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

Standing 6’8” with a thunderous serve and explosive groundstrokes, Diallo looks every inch the modern tennis powerhouse. Yet his path to the sport wasn’t scripted, it was more of a happy accident.

“They just wanted to give me an opportunity to have an education, to have a better life than what they had there. That was the main goal for them, but it just so happened that I really enjoyed sports growing up,” said Diallo. “I was really active… They put me onto tennis and for some reason it really stuck.

“When they saw it in my eyes that I wanted to play, they went all in, just as I did, and it just so happened that I ended up being a professional tennis player.”

That commitment from his parents and his own determination paid off in spectacular fashion. When Diallo redirected a backhand winner past good friend Zizou Bergs in the ‘s-Hertogenbosch final in June, he fell to the ground in disbelief. He was an ATP Tour champion.

Watch Diallo capture his first ATP Tour title: 

As special as that moment was, it was one of many milestones that affirmed the sacrifices made for him. A standout at the University of Kentucky, Diallo still remembers the joy of earning his college scholarship.

“My family and I were pretty fired up about that. We thought that everything after that was a bonus,” Diallo said of his scholarship. “I got my free education, college degree… But everything happened very fast and four years later I am playing on the ATP Tour, so we’re very happy.”

Diallo has plenty of reasons to smile now, but his rise was far from straightforward. Before college, he spent three formative years training with Sam Aliassime — father of countryman and former World No. 6 Felix Auger-Aliassime — at his academy in Quebec, a period that helped him rediscover belief in his potential.

“I didn’t have the best results during my teen years. I’m sure other people will tell you: I had potential but I couldn’t quite figure it out on the tennis court, I needed time to develop,” Diallo recalled. “I had a lot of moments of doubt, a lot of moments where I wanted to stop, because it wasn’t working out.

“At that age, it’s tough to see the bigger picture, to see yourself in five or 10 years. But luckily, my parents never gave up and obviously Felix’s dad played a huge role in that, giving me a chance to train at his academy. After that I went to college and nothing was the same after that.”

Last week, Diallo faced Felix for the first time in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, marking a symbolic full-circle moment for both. One year apart in age, Auger-Aliassime broke through first, capturing four ATP Tour titles in 2022, while Diallo was still competing in college.

Now, Diallo has joined him among Canada’s elite, armed with a booming serve, quiet confidence, and a deep understanding of where it all began. As he steps onto court at the Rolex Paris Masters this week, his focus is simple: keep building, keep believing, and keep honouring the sacrifices that started it all.