October 13, 2025

Open Court

MORE TENNIS THAN YOU'LL EVER NEED

Four fellas from Abitibi having a TIME at the US Open

(Photo: Jean-Michel Cotnoir)

FLUSHING MEADOWS, New York – It’s a long way from the mining area Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Québec to Flushing Meadows, New York.

But four fellows had their T-shirts made up, got their hat game going, and headed down for a three-day sports trip (that included a Mets’ game Wednesday night).

Mostly, though, they came for the tennis.

And on Thursday, they were spoiled rotten with their grounds passes: first Denis Shapovalov (win), then Gabriel Diallo (loss) and finally Félix Auger-Aliassime (win).

Their energy never flagged. They added some back-and-forth chants with the two dudes in the fabulous “tennis ball vests (unfortunately, Thursday was the last day for those two). The last match finished after 11 p.m., so their stamina was impressive – to say the least.

One thing’s for sure, the players appreciated it. And so did the fans around them, at the end of the Auger-Aliassime match they had fans asking for photos with them and coming up and finding out their story.

When one lady complained about them, another even came running over to them to warn them security was on their way – to give them a heads up. In the end, the fans around them all vouched that they were only adding, not detracting from the match. And so nothing more on that.

Here’s what they looked like.

On Friday night, they were near the broadcast position inside Louis Armstrong Stadum, cheering on Leylah Fernandez in a valiant but ultimately unsuccessful campaign against world No. 1 and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka.

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One last day in Queen’s

On Saturday, their last day, they’ll be front and centre for Auger-Aliassime as he takes on No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev in Louis Armstrong Stadium.

As for Shapovalov v Jannik Sinner in Arthur Ashe?

Well, the $500 US price tag is WAYYYYYYY over their budget.

So if any of you want to help some brothers out in that regard, they’d love to hear from you!

Here’s a little interview with them after the FAA win.

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