Flashback: Canada vs Brazil, Roland Garros 2015

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As Canada takes on Brazil in Vancouver in Davis Cup this weekend, here’s a little flashback to show you how fickle a tennis career is – and how much things can change in a decade.

It was June 1, 2015, and a Canadian who would turn 18 the next day by the name of Alejandro Tabilo took on a Brazilian by the name of Orlando Luz in the first round of the Roland Garros junior boys’ event.

Tabilo, who broke into the top 30 in the juniors at the tail end of his junior career, was a chubby kid who had played junior Davis Cup for Canada (with teammate Denis Shapovalov). But he wasn’t that highly regarded as a prospect, in part because of the extra pounds.

For Luz, who had turned 17 a few months prior, it was the opposite. He had just become the new ITF world No. 1-ranked boy after winning the high-level Roland Garros tuneup, the Trofeo Bonfiglio.

And he was the No. 1 seed in the boys’ singles in Paris, the hotshot in Nike who loved the clay and on whose shoulders so many Brazilian hopes were heaped for the future.

Luz won, but it wasn’t easy: 5-7, 6-4, 6-1.

Here’s what it looked like back then.

A decade later, dreams realized and chased

It wasn’t long before Tabilo, whose parents are Chilean, decided (for a number of reasons) that his future lay in South America. He’d not been an integral part of the Tennis Canada fabric, having relocated to Florida many years before. But he was the only Canadian junior ranked high enough to make the Roland Garros boys’ draw that year; Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime were a year away.

“I was a very chubby kid. I never really looked like I was going to be climbing up in the rankings. But I was No. 1 in all the (junior) categories there, and I never received a wild card for Rogers Cup or anything. So I never really felt the support,” Tabilo told Open Court in an interview in 2024. “I never really felt included. I think that’s a big reason. If they would have made me feel more secure in their system, maybe I would have wanted to stay.”

That, of course, is Tabilo’s version of events. But he relocated to Chile and began representing that country, which offered a good structure and early opportunities to play Davis Cup.

Through many trials and tribulations, he made it to the top 20 in singles in July, 2024 and has three career titles on the ATP Tour. The former chubby kid boasts wins over Stan Wawrinka, Frances Tiafoe, Flavio Cobolli, Gael Monfils, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Novak Djokovic – twice.

He’s earned more than $4.5 million U.S. so far in his career.

For Luz, a slog of a career

The former junior hotshot Luz has a diametrically opposite story. But his is one of perseverence.

He never really made it; Luz’s ATP singles ranking peak of No. 272 came all the way back in 2021, and he’s never made it back to a Grand Slam in singles since. Not even in the qualifying.

He’s played nine career ATP Tour events, mostly in his homeland, with one main-draw appearance (a loss) and one qualifying win, total, at that level.

Even in doubles, it wasn’t all that much better for a long time.

Ranked in the 100-200 range most of his career with a few peaks inside that number, Luz finally came into his own and broke through for good in the summer of 2024.

Currently, he stands at a career high No. 53 after he and Rafael Matos – also his partner in Vancouver – reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. He and Ivan Dodig reached the quarters of Roland Garros in doubles last spring, one of … 32 tournaments Luz played in 2025.

He never earned more than $25,000 in any season from doubles until 2024, when he made just under $75,000. And then, last year at age 28 – a decade after being the No. 1 hotshot in the world, he made nearly $170,000.

And on Saturday, he and Matos pulled off the doubles rubber in Vancouver to give Brazil a 2-1 lead, and forcing the heavily-favoured Canadians into comeback mode.

Tabilo representing the (other) “C”

Meanwhile, Tabilo was at home in Santiago this weekend as Chile took on an undermanned Serbian team.

Playing No. 1 singles, the Cana-Chilean won his match as Chile swept Serbia 4-0, to move on to the Davis Cup finals playoffs. He could meet Joao Fonseca in the second round of the Buenos Aires tournament on clay in a few days.

Luz (and Matos) will also be there, in doubles as the No. 3 seeds.

Would Tabilo have made the difference this weekend in Vancouver, were he still Canadian?

Hard to tell. Liam Draxl did just fine in winning his opening rubber against Brazilian No. 1 Joao Lucas Reis Da Silva (who didn’t play on Saturday).

But with the Canada-Brazil tie coming down to the inexperienced Draxl (who lost a tight one in doubles with Cleeve Harper to open the proceedings Saturday) versus the full-of-confidence Heide, all bets are off.

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