Rogers Cup presents perfect split-screen of Canada's teenage phenoms

“They all took their own pathways,” Tennis Canada CEO Michael Downey said earlier this year when I asked him about the diverse crop of up-and-coming players that his country has produced in recent years.

“I think it’s a reflection of the mosaic nature of Canada,” Downey said. “Immigrants hold onto their traditions, and we celebrate them. Tennis is a popular sport in a lot of the countries these kids came from, and they kept up that tradition here.”

On Thursday afternoon, the Rogers Cup offered a perfect split-screen image of that mosaic nature, as two of Canada’s two most promising teenagers—and children of immigrants—faced off against Top 10 opponents. At the men’s tournament in Montreal, Felix Auger-Aliassime took on Karen Khachanov; at the women’s event in Toronto, Bianca Andreescu played Kiki Bertens.

Auger-Aliassime lost a tough third-round battle to Karen Khachanov on his 19th birthday in Montreal. (Getty Images)

Auger-Aliassime, whose father is from Togo, and Andreescu, whose parents are Romanian, are both 19, and they were both playing in their hometowns today. But from their playing styles, to the atmosphere that surrounded them, and ultimately to their results, their days couldn’t have looked or sounded or felt more different. The raucous, Roland Garros-like capacity crowd in Montreal did everything it could to will Auger-Aliassime, who was playing on his birthday, to victory—Khachanov’s winning points were met with literal silence. By comparison, the audience at Andreescu’s match in Toronto was mellowly supportive. In the end, though, it was Andreescu who survived in three sets, and Auger-Aliassime who was gradually worn down by his older opponent.

Andreescu and Auger-Aliassime both train at Tennis Canada facilities, but their games come from wildly divergent stylistic and tactical universes.

Andreescu is a born disruptor capable of winning a point a dozen different ways. Against Bertens, she won them with her sliding slice serve out wide in the ad court; with her forehand drop shot, which she disguises well and hits with plenty of safety; with sudden, brazen forays to net; with full-blooded ground strokes; with moonballs that pushed Bertens back and elicited a short reply. Just don’t tell Andreescu it’s a moonball.

“I don’t necessarily call it a moonball,” she said with a laugh earlier this week. “I would say more of a deep, effective high ball. Sounds better.”

Andreescu has prevailed in a trio of three-set matches in Toronto. (Getty Images)

Fair enough. What matters is that Andreescu isn’t bound by any limits or conventions in what she’ll try to do to win a point. She has been sidelined for most of the summer with injuries, but this week she has picked up where she left off in March, when she stunned the sport with her title run at Indian Wells. As she did there, Andreescu has shown a knack for winning close matches in Toronto.

So far she has beaten Genie Bouchard 6-4 in the third, Daria Kasatkina 7-5 in the third, and Bertens 6-4 in the third. Andreescu hasn’t been perfect, but that’s OK, because one of her strengths is that she’s not a perfectionist—at least not compared to most other tennis players. She might commit five straight errors, or blow a commanding lead, but she puts her mistakes behind her and moves on. After seven weeks off the tour, Andreescu is still good at winning.

While Andreescu has been away, Auger-Aliassime has been playing—and playing, and playing, and playing. This is his 11th tournament since he had his own breakout win over Stefanos Tsitsipas at Indian Wells. All of those matches have raised his ranking to No. 21, but today they may have left him a little gassed. For the better part of two hours and two sets, Auger-Aliassime slugged with Khachanov from the baseline, until he finally blinked while serving at 5-6 in the second set. From that point on, Auger-Aliassime began to retreat, and Khachanov to move forward in the court, and the Russian won 6-3 in the third set.

With Andreescu, you don’t know what’s coming next; with Auger-Aliassime, you have a good idea. Where her game is multifarious, his is relentless and single-minded. FAA hits hard, deep topspin from both sides and to both corners, and rarely feels the need to mix in anything else. His racquet speed allows him to take full rips at the ball, yet also get the spin and net clearance needed to do it safely. He plays the modern power-baseline game without any bells or whistles, and he already does it well enough to nearly beat the No. 8 player in the world.

The feisty, expressive Andreescu and the cool, controlled Auger-Aliassime have been welcomed in different ways by their peers. Angelique Kerber called Andreescu “the biggest drama queen ever” after losing to her in Miami, while Rafael Nadal has said of Auger-Aliassime, “I like his character...He’s one of the players that I would love to see at the top position and winning trophies.”

It takes all kinds to make a mosaic nation, and the same goes for the increasingly globalized tennis tours. Auger-Aliassime and Andreescu are both welcome additions to the game—it’s a pleasure to watch him strike the ball so cleanly, and it’s a pleasure to watch her think her way through a point. It won’t be a surprise if their very different pathways take both of these teens to the top of the sport someday.