Five years ago this week, Shapo and FAA were just getting started (video)

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On this momentous Wednesday at Wimbledon, 22-year-old Denis Shapovalov and 20-year-old Félix Auger-Aliassime are both playing in the men’s singles quarterfinals.

It’s hard to believe that it was just five years ago that Auger-Aliassime was playing his first and only junior Wimbledon.

Shapovalov was playing his second; in 2015, he qualified and got to the third round of singles. In doubles, he lost in the first round, paired up with Kenneth Raisma.

What was most impressive about #Shaugur, who had already won the US Open junior doubles title in 2015, is how well they played classic doubles. Serve and volley, working together.

Open Court unearthed a trove of video in our archives from that year – from singles and doubles, and also some interviews.

Auger-Aliassime to the singles quarterfinals

Things went pretty well for 15-year-old Auger-Aliassime in the singles. He defeated Nicola Kohn on the way to the quarterfinals.

And things were going well against Alex de Minaur before he ran out of puff in the third set of the quarterfinal.

As you can see by the names, it was a pretty good junior vintage.

Here’s what he looked like in singles.

Walking through the crowd

As Auger-Aliassime walked through the crowd with Shapovalov (and his bestie Jonathan Soriano, who came on the trip), no one noticed these young guys.

They couldn’t have known that five years later, both would be in the final eight of the men’s singles.

Shapovalov – hitting with Gasquet

Meanwhile, Shapovalov was busy WINNING the Wimbledon boys’ singles title.

He defeated de Minaur in the final.

He also was able to hit with top player Richard Gasquet (a couple of cameos in there from Genie Bouchard and junior Bianca Andreescu).

Also – some photos of the doubles final against Raisma and … some kid named Tsitsi … something.

The Interview

After the singles quarterfinals, Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov sat down for a bilingual interview.

They talked about their doubles partnership and friendship. Auger-Aliassime went back on his loss to de Minaur, and Shapovalov on his win against Mate Valkusz.

And Shapovalov even spoke a little French!

(The youthful promise to be fluent by … now didn’t quite pan out. 🙂 )