Hong Kong tennis crowd holds no fear for Gabriel Diallo ahead of Coleman Wong clash
Canadian relishing prospect of meeting friend, doubles partner and local hero in second round of ATP 250 event in Causeway Bay
After cutting his teeth competing in front of unruly American college audiences, Gabriel Diallo is undaunted about the prospect of tackling “local superstar” Coleman Wong Chak-lam and a partisan Hong Kong crowd on Wednesday.
Diallo gained some insight into the cauldron he will encounter in his Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open second-round match, as the noise that accompanied Wong’s victory over Mariano Navone on Victoria Park Tennis Stadium on Tuesday washed over a sparse Court No 1 where the Canadian overcame Jesper de Jong 6-4, 7-6.
World No 40 Diallo acknowledged he was pleased Wong had advanced, and not just because the pair are friends and doubles partners. Had Navone won, Diallo would have been condemned to another shift on the outside courts.
“The fans will be super fired-up, Coleman’s a local superstar,” Diallo said. “I’m very excited, we practice in the off-season to play on nice big stages like this. I’m going to bring my A-game and, hopefully, get the job done.”
The 24-year-old has experience of facing American stars on home soil, most recently tackling world No 8 Ben Shelton in Washington in July.
But it was playing the college circuit for the University of Kentucky where he learned to block out feverish opposition fans.