Former Kentucky star Gabriel Diallo Pushes World No. 5 to Five Sets in Wimbledon Thriller

Former Kentucky tennis star Gabriel Diallo won his first-ever match at Wimbledon on Monday. Today, he took the No. 5 player in the world to five sets, earning a new set of fans in the process.

Diallo, an All-American at Kentucky from 2020-22, lost to Taylor Fritz 6-3, 3-6, 6-7, 6-4, 3-6 in the second round at Wimbledon, a match that lasted over three hours. Diallo won the first set 6-3, and Fritz the second by the same score. The third set went to a tiebreaker, which Fritz won, but Diallo stormed back to win the fourth set to force a fifth. Even when the outcome looked determined, Diallo didn’t give in, winning three games in the fifth set despite suffering a wrist injury. Afterward, Fritz complimented the 23-year-old Canadian’s drive, especially in the fourth set.

“The fourth set that I lost, I really don’t think there’s much I did wrong at all and it kind of felt like that’s the way the match was going is that I was going to have to play near perfect when I got my opportunities, so I’m really happy to get through that. A really, really tough match.”

It must have been cool for Diallo to play only his second match ever at the All England Lawn Tennis Club on No. 1 Court, and even more surreal when the crowd of 10,000-plus started cheering for him over Fritz. Tennis legend John McEnroe was on the call for ESPN+ and raved about the former Kentucky star, who got a standing ovation when he left the court.

“Incredible effort by both guys,” McEnroe said after the match was over. “A pleasure to watch these two go at it and see the excellence of Taylor Fritz when it really mattered and the youth — [Diallo] is not that young, but 23, sort of new to the top level of the sport. He’s got a lot to look forward to.”

On Monday, Diallo defeated Germany’s Daniel Altmaier 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. He’s won the opening round match in each of his last four Grand Slam appearances. Diallo is currently ranked No. 40 in the world after claiming his first career ATP Tour title in ‘s-Hertogenbosch last month. McEnroe predicted that today’s performance will earn Diallo a top-32 seed in the US Open next month. That’s where he broke through last year, making it to the Round of 32.

We’ll have to wait until late August to see Diallo at the US Open. Until then, kudos to him for making some noise on tennis’ biggest stage.

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