Canadian Denis Shapovalov competed at the French Open for the first time and Gabriela Dabrowski once again played in a mixed doubles final on Sunday in Paris. TSN’s Michael Gallo provides his five takeways from Roland Garros.

1. Shapovalov staying the course

Playing in his first Roland Garros and completing his circle of all four Grand Slams, Denis Shapovalov ended a successful clay season with a second-round defeat at the year’s second major. The 19-year-old Canadian won his opening-round match over John Millman in straight sets, but fell short against the in-form clay-court specialist Maximilian Marterer. Seeded 24th in his first Grand Slam as a seeded player, Shapovalov was not able to take advantage of avoiding other top-30 players through the first two rounds. His German counterpart would go onto the fourth round and actually push the now 11-time champion Rafael Nadal to a third set tiebreak, so it showed how well Marterer played on clay. Had Shapovalov won his second-round match, a fourth-round meeting with the King of Clay loomed, so the possibility of a long run was improbable. That being said, Shapovalov proved that his game is well-rounded beating the likes of Tomas Berdych, Milos Raonic, Benoit Paire and Kyle Edmund during the clay season, while his other losses were to the top two seeds at the French Open ­– Alexander Zverev in Madrid and Nadal in Rome. The 2016 Wimbledon junior boys champion now gets ready for the grass season with the first big test of his professional career as he tries to defend the points he earned last summer. His first tournament begins this week in Stuttgart where he’ll be joined by Milos Raonic.


2. Dabrowski the last Canadian standing once again

Gabriela Dabrowski has become a staple in Grand Slams as the last Canadian standing. The defending mixed doubles champion from 2017, she and partner Mate Pavic made the final, only to lose out in a match tiebreak to the No. 2 seeds Latisha Chan and Ivan Dodig. Dabrowski was seeded No. 1 for the first time in a Grand Slam due to the combination of her doubles ranking (11) and her partner’s ranking (1). The Ottawa native had won all nine of her matches with Pavic since teaming up together in Australia before losing in the French Open final, and they’ve shown great chemistry for a team this relatively new. If this pairing sticks together, it is to be expected they will be favourites at future Grand Slams. Dabrowski also made the third round in women’s doubles with partner Yifan Xu before losing out to eventual the finalists. She’s been the most consistent Canadian over the past three years, making at-least the quarter-finals in either doubles or mixed doubles since the 2016 U.S. Open.


3. Get me to grass

It was a disappointing main draw overall in terms of singles for the Canadians. In addition to Shapovalov being ousted in the second round, both Vasek Pospisil and Peter Polansky were unable to win their opening-round matches after being handed difficult draws. Pospisil, playing in just his first match on clay in Europe in two years, was defeated by current No. 45 Marton Fucsovics in straight sets, while Polansky was eliminated by Frenchman Pierre Hughes Herbert in four sets. The No. 124 player in the world, Polansky lost in the final round of qualifying before getting into the main draw as one of eight lucky losers. Pospisil, a former Wimbledon quarter-finalist, begins his grass season this week in s-Hertogenbosch, while Polansky plays a challenger in Nottingham.

4. Fernandez filling a void

With the current crop of “next generation” Canadians jump-starting their professional careers, it left the question: Who is the next junior to lead the way in Grand Slams? That was quickly answered at the French Open with 15-year-old Leylah Annie Fernandez making a deep run in her maiden major. The Montreal native made the semi-finals without dropping a set in her first four matches before running into the eventual champion Cori Gauff in the final four. With Shapovalov, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Bianca Andreescu now out of the junior picture, Fernandez will hope to fill that void over the coming year. She was the lone Canadian in both the girls’ and boys’ junior draws and now in the top-20 ITF junior rankings.


5. Not doubling down

Over the years, Canadians playing men’s doubles have had success in Grand Slams, most notably Daniel Nestor with his combined 12 major titles and Pospisil taking the Wimbledon championship in 2014. But the progress in recent slams has slowed down. Nestor, Pospisil and Adil Shamasdin have yet to win a Grand Slam match in 2018, dropping the Canadian men’s doubles record to 0-6 overall. Nestor, now 45 years old, is completing the final year of professional tennis career that dates back all the way to the mid-90s. There are currently no Canadians in the top 80 in the men’s doubles rankings, with Shamasdin being the top Canuck at No. 90.