Canadian tennis stars might put on a show for Netflix, once the No-Vax racket dies down

Sure, they’re even going to play a Grand Slam tennis match beginning subsequent week.

It might need appeared till now that the Novak Djokovic immigration drama was the lone driving drive for the gathering of the perfect female and male gamers in Australia. Come see No-Vax and his mother and father tackle the Australian authorities!

It has been seemingly all that anybody has wished to speak about. Phrase that Netflix is utilizing the Australian Open to start capturing the tennis equal of the docuseries “F1: Drive to Survive” suggests the cameras could have already got all they want, plot-wise, earlier than a single serve has been hit.

The reality is that this might be an interesting yr in tennis, significantly within the males’s sport with the continuing absence of Roger Federer and the general sense that the game will, within the comparatively foreseeable future, now not be dominated by a small group of gamers.

Of the Huge Three, solely Djokovic sits within the prime 5 on this planet any longer. Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev spherical out the 5 top-ranked gamers. Longtime stalwarts Stan Wawrinka, Juan Martín del Potro, Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga aren’t main forces any longer.

That is the very fluid panorama that two younger Canadians, Félix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov, will encounter in Melbourne.

Auger-Aliassime, simply 21, is ranked No. 9 on this planet, the youngest member of the ATP prime 10. Shapovalov, 22, is No. 14.

The Canadians could also be younger, however they’re now not wide-eyed rookies. They’re each on the level the place their expertise ought to begin to turn into an asset. Each have had their ups and downs, their wins over prime gamers and their battle wounds.

Each have turn into main gamers in worldwide tennis, most lately on the comparatively new ATP Cup, held in Sydney earlier this month. Whereas the sphere was diluted by two different ATP tournaments occurring on the identical time, they nonetheless needed to cope with Zverev and the Germans and a Russian workforce led by Medvedev earlier than lastly defeating a Rafael Nadal-less Spanish squad to win the competitors.

Provided that Auger-Aliassime has but to win an ATP singles title and Shapovalov has only one (Stockholm indoors, 2019) profitable the ATP Cup was a major achievement for each.

It must also give them a way of momentum going into this yr’s Aussie Open. Each seem like the sort who, given some luck and maybe the departure of prime seeds by the hands of others, may take a run on the singles title.

Auger-Aliassime, you’ll recall, received 5 matches in New York final September to get to the semifinals of the U.S. Open, the primary participant born within the 2000s to get to a Grand Slam semi. That got here after attending to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and a round-of-16 look on the 2021 Australian Open. Of the 2 Canadians, he’s the one who most seems like he’s trending towards his first Grand Slam triumph. However he’s additionally obtained to show himself to be a finisher.

Shapovalov, in the meantime, was a semifinalist at Wimbledon, dropping to Djokovic, and a quarterfinalist on the 2020 U.S. Open. There was a time when tennis consultants had been evaluating Shapovalov to Federer, however these comparisons have quieted. The southpaw is extra explosive than Auger-Aliassime, but additionally streakier and vulnerable to being unfavourable on courtroom.

They're very totally different characters. It’s not stunning that they complement each other in doubles, and did so within the ATP Cup with nice effectiveness. They wanted to beat Medvedev and his accomplice to remove Russia within the semis, and did.

Each start Down Underneath towards opponents they need to be capable to deal with. Auger-Aliassime begins out towards Ninetieth-ranked Emil Ruusuvuori, the one Finn within the prime 100. The Montrealer is in the identical quarter of the draw as Medvedev and Rublev.

Shapovalov, in the meantime, is in the identical quarter as Nadal and Zverev. Within the first spherical, he will get Laslo Djere of Serbia, a 26-year-old journeyman ranked No. 52.

It’s price remembering that 12 months in the past Auger-Aliassime was exterior the highest 20 on this planet. Shapovalov was somewhat increased at No. 12, and Milos Raonic, regardless of all his accidents, was nonetheless No. 14. Raonic is 31 now, and it appears unlikely he’ll get again to the purpose the place he virtually turned the primary Canadian male to win a Grand Slam singles title when he obtained to Wimbledon last in 2016, dropping to Murray.

Hardcore tennis followers, and Canadian sports activities followers who solely sometimes dip their toes into tennis waters, ought to have discovered some necessary classes from watching Raonic’s profession. There’s an enormous distinction between believing a participant is able to win one of many sport’s large tournaments and seeing it truly occur. Tennis historical past is full of actually good gamers who, for one cause or one other, by no means received the massive one.

However whereas Raonic needed to cope with Federer, Djokovic, Nadal and Murray within the prime of their careers, Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov don’t. They each have stronger all-around video games than Raonic, and don’t have to begin out each Grand Slam occasion pondering they’ll need to beat at the least one legend, and presumably two, to come back out on prime.

It could be a shock if both Canadian received this yr’s Australian Open, however not a shock. They're contenders. Netflix most likely wouldn’t even thoughts a Canadian winner, as an intriguing opening storyline to its first season of unveiling the interior workings of the tennis world.