A touching moment played out between lifelong friends Monday night, when a teenage health scare first brought tears of dismay then an affectionate embrace and words of consolation.
It also happened to decide a berth in the second round of the U.S. Open and be witnessed by thousands of paying customers at the Grandstand as the sun set on Day 1 in Queens.
Felix Auger-Aliassime, an 18-year-old phenom from Canada, was forced to retire in the third set of an opening-round showdown with 19-year-old Denis Shapovalov, his dear friend and countryman, due to an elevated heart rate that produced weakness and discomfort.
“It’s tough to see a friend go down like that,” said Shapovalov, the No. 28 seed. “It’s tough to keep pounding at it when he’s a brother to me. Obviously I want the best for him, for him to be healthy.”
Auger-Aliassime, ranked No. 117 and the youngest player in the top 200, first received medical attention while trailing 5-7, 7-5, 0-2. The woman overseeing the treatment could be heard telling the umpire: “We’re trying to get his heart rate down.”
Auger-Aliassime, under the watchful and worried eyes of his father and older sister in the front rows, labored on for three more games before retiring at 1-4.
“My heart rate just wouldn’t go down,” a subdued Auger-Aliassime said several hours later. “I had palpitations for some reason. It’s something I’ve had before. We’re going to look deeper into it.
“I was just not able to keep going. It was bad and I had to stop.”
He broke down in tears as he approached the net. Shapovalov hugged Auger-Aliassime tightly and patted his head, saying: “Keep your head up. You played f–king great.”
Shapovalov accompanied Auger-Aliassime to his chairs and sat with him as the younger player regained his composure. Courtside microphones picked up Auger-Aliassime telling Shapovalov: “My team said it’s just not worth it.”
“I told him one day hopefully we’ll be playing in the final of this tournament,” Shapovalov said. “We’re going to have so many great matches.”
That’s not an outlandish prediction for two of the most promising young players on the men’s side of the draw. Shapovalov made a scintillating run to the fourth round here last year as a qualifier and is now a fixture in the world top 30, even as he’s the youngest player in the top 100. Auger-Aliassime won the U.S. Open boys title in 2016 (including a win over this year’s main-draw No. 15 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas).
More than that, said Shapovalov, they have been friends since he was 7 or 8, inseparable partners in Canada’s youth program and on the junior circuit — and the vanguard of a rising tennis power north of the border.
“What me and Felix have is truly incredible,” Shapovalov said. “It’s truly making the sport bigger in our country, and hopefully we continue to do that.”
