Félix Auger-Aliassime, Gabriela Dabrowski close out Canada’s Tokyo tennis card with another first-round exit

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This article was published 28/07/2021 (1550 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TOKYO—Empty-handed but love-all anyway, once the gloom wears off.

Canada, a nascent nation in global tennis, is leaving the Olympics with scarcely anything to show for it, hastily eliminated in singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

Félix Auger-Aliassime and Gabriela Dabrowski, touted for gold in the mixed event, were shown the exit Wednesday by the second-seeded Greek tandem of Maria Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas, losing 6-3, 6-4.

“It’s been a good experience,” Auger-Aliassime said. “Definitely in three years, I’ll get my shot again at the Olympics.”

Auger-Aliassime and Dabrowski had never played together before, their first-round match kind of like doing the tango with a one-legged stranger. They were slapped into a twosome on the eve of the Games, after Auger-Aliassime found himself a men’s doubles wallflower when partner Vasek Pospisil withdrew, citing a shoulder injury and “other factors.” Which, for a slew of big-name tennis stars, has been code for, “Nah, don’t wanna.”

Teenager Leylah Fernandez survived only one round in the women’s draw — and who imagined that would be Canada’s tennis point at Tokyo2020? — leaving only Auger-Aliassime and Dabrowski standing at Ariake Tennis Park this week, and they were instantly toppled.

Auger-Aliassime, ranked 15th in the world, had been dusted off in men’s singles in an opening round upset by world No. 190 Max Purcell of Australia. That was a shocker. Dabrowski is a doubles Grand Slam finalist and has twice won majors in mixed doubles. But she was sent packing in the opening round of the Tokyo women’s doubles with partner Sharon Fichman.

So the stage was set for a slice of mutual redemption. Instead, a straight-sets dispatch.

Dabrowski, the 29-year-old from Ottawa, led Auger-Aliassime, the 20-year-old from Montreal, onto the court for the match. It was anticipated she would take the lead. But they never really clicked.

“A little bit sad, a little bit down,” Dabrowski said. “Frustrated with myself. So, yeah, too bad. It’s sport. Someone got to lose.”

Hadn’t expected it to be them, although Tsitsipas is a superb singles player, ranked fourth in the world.

“I felt that my net game let me down, which is something I can normally rely on quite well,” Dabrowski said. “So that was really disappointing for me. Normally it’s my strength. Just not being able to execute the shots that I wanted was disappointing.”

Those balls Dabrowski usually makes, she kept missing, or went for the wrong shot selection.

Auger-Aliassime shouldered his portion of the blame. “I also returned a little bit poorly compared to what I could have done on the serve in the second set and at the end of the match.

“For sure, it’s a little bit unfortunate. We felt we weren’t a worse team than them on the court. We had the possibility to do better. We thought we could go deep in this mixed doubles draw. Not as good as we wanted, for sure. We would have wanted to fall on the winning side. But I think in the end they deserved to win.

“They were better than us. They returned better than I did, especially. They were really good in the important moments.”

The match wasn’t necessarily as lopsided as the score would suggest. Both teams made 14 unforced errors and the Canadians actually had the edge on first serves. But they failed to connect of four break-point opportunities, while the Greeks converted two of their six.

Auger-Aliassime, who savoured the entire Olympic experience in his Games debut, certainly enjoyed the mixed gig.

“This was my first time. It was interesting. I think it’s very rich for me as a person, as a player, to experience that. You have to deal with different things, things you’re not used to, players you’re not used to. The energy and the chemistry is different. We don’t usually play with girls and they don’t usually play with us.

“But I love to experience new things, get out of my comfort zone.”

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Neither ruled out another hookup in the future.

“Uh, hard to say,” Dabrowski said. “Félix plays a lot of singles and even some men’s doubles. To add in mixed doubles would be a lot for him. But he’s a wonderful person, a great teammate. He’s got really good energy and attitude.

“It was a pleasure to play with him.”

A brief affair to remember in Tokyo. Thanks for coming.

Rosie DiManno is a Toronto-based columnist covering sports and current affairs for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @rdimanno