NATIONAL BANK OPEN

August 9, 2023

Gabriel Diallo

Press Conference

A. DE MINAUR/G. Diallo

6-4, 7-5

GABRIEL DIALLO

THE MODERATOR: Gabriel, bad luck today, but you must be proud of your experience at the National Bank Open, so can you just sum it up?

GABRIEL DIALLO: Of course.

First of all, I would like to congratulate my opponent. He's a great player, and today he was the better player.

But for myself, I think it was a great eye-opener, not even my two matches but just the week leading up to the tournament. I learned a lot from how the pros behave, how they train, how they carry themselves outside the court. So great learning experience for me.

And, yeah, I'm disappointed, but I think I did some good things on the court. And I'm proud of myself for believing I could win until the last point.

And now it's just on to the next one.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please.

Q. Gabriel, you talked about learning a lot from being around the pros this week. I think this may have been your first time around Milos. What was it like to kind of see him up close and see how he goes about his business and the mechanics of his serve, things like that?

GABRIEL DIALLO: Yeah. Of course, you know, he's been on tour for a while. So I'm sure at the beginning he wasn't the same as how he is now. He learned a lot.

But, no, the way he carries himself outside the court, he has a big presence. He's tall. He's big. And kind of complements how he plays also.

So, yeah, that's, of course, something that I could add into my arsenal. But at the end of the day, I've just got to do what works for me best.

Q. I wonder where this takes you from here. Like, what happens with your calendar now, your tournament schedule? What sorts of events are you looking forward to playing and how will you test yourself?

GABRIEL DIALLO: Well, now I'm going to play the Winnipeg Challenger and play the US Open quallies. And then, after that, the calendar isn't quite made yet.

But, you know, I think this week was good. It shows that I can compete at the highest level. Obviously, I still have a lot of work to do, but I think it was positive.

And, yeah, we'll see after the US Open what the schedule looks like.

Q. Gabriel, you mentioned that you learned a lot from just watching the guys. What is one thing that, I guess, resonated for you watching them off the court?

GABRIEL DIALLO: Well, off the court, everyone is quite, more or less, the same. They have their routines. Everyone has their routines. Before practice, after practice. Before matches, after matches. Regardless if you win or lose, it's always the same routine, and I think that's something that I could add to myself.

You know, coming from college, it was a little bit all over the place. 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.

Q. Can you talk a bit about what it was like playing De Min and what makes him such a difficult opponent.

GABRIEL DIALLO: He didn't miss a lot. He doesn't give you a lot, and he gets to every ball. And he has a great vision of the court. He anticipates really well.

But I would say the number one thing is the way he competes. He competes -- I think so far, from the guys I've played in my life, he's the one that competes the best, for sure.

He doesn't give you kind of a reason to have an edge. You know, regardless of the score or the situation, he always has, like, that game face and always ready to battle regardless of the score. So I would give him a lot of credit for that.