Gabriel Diallo will be making his second appearance at Roland-Garros at the end of May. It will be his chance to play in the same Grand Slam singles main draw for a second time.
A lot has changed since his debut 12 months ago.
At the 2024 French Open, he came in ranked 166th in the world and had to play in qualifying. He needed three sets in every round but he found a way to punch his ticket to the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career. He lost his major debut to Kei Nishikori in five sets.
In the twelve months that followed, he made his debut at two more majors, the US Open and Australian Open, winning at least one match at each, including reaching the third round in New York. He got to his first tour-level final at the ATP 250 event in Almaty, Kazakhstan in October. Earlier this month, he reached his first Masters 1000 quarter-final at the Madrid Open.
Heading into the 2025 edition of Roland-Garros, he is more than 100 spots higher in the rankings than a year ago and will receive direct entry into the main draw in Paris.
“Last year, I was kind of dipping my toes in the water, getting adjusted to playing a Slam and playing on a big court. Everything was kind of new," Diallo reflected in a media availability on Wednesday. "Now I feel like my little backpack of experience has gotten bigger, so I'm able to use it to my advantage. I feel like I'm going to be much better prepared.”
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Looking back at his breakthrough run in Madrid, which also included the biggest win by ranking of his career over Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round, the Montrealer said that the quarter-final was an accomplishment but also had him thinking about what’s next.
“You never know how it feels until you accomplish something. For me, it seems so far away to reach the quarter-finals of a Masters 1000 until it's done. And then you're like, ‘Okay, well, if I made a quarter, where else can I go? How far can I go?’ So it's going to be interesting to see.”
The 2025 French Open is going to look and feel quite different for Diallo. The 23-year-old directly pointed to his results over the last year as to why he has more confidence heading into his second Roland-Garros.
“I feel like I'm going to be much better prepared as I played Australia at the beginning of the year, played the main draw at the [US] Open last year as well. The expectation that I put on myself is different than last year, even though it's on clay, which is not the surface I grew up playing on, but I still expect to try and achieve good things on it. And I think that we've done great preparation and have had some great results on the surface. Everything is in place for me to perform.”
Diallo is currently ranked No. 54 in the ATP Rankings (as of May 15, 2025), his career-high. As he only has 10 points to defend from 2024, any match win should see his ranking increase and he has a very good chance to enter the Top 50 for the first time.
“It's super positive. Obviously, I'm at a career high. We strive to try and go as high as we can. It's good for confidence, especially for going into a slam on this surface where maybe historically, I haven't played my best. It definitely gives me the confidence that I can have some great results.”
Even though he is entering at a career-high ranking, the Montrealer is still keeping things in perspective ahead of the French Open.
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“The ranking at 50 or at 80 in slams, it doesn't really matter unless you're Top 32 and you get a seed,” explained Diallo. “But even then, I feel like the level is so deep. You've got guys that are not seeded that you don't want to see in the draw.”
Play gets underway at Roland-Garros on May 26. Heading into his second appearance in Paris, Diallo believes that his experience will help him.
“Last year, I played really well in Paris. I qualified for my first main draw. I had a great, great first round. Even though I lost, it gave me tremendous experience. So I think that this is going to help me with the belief that I can achieve and do some damage this time.”
Feature Photo : Martin Sidorjak
