A pair of teen sensations are teaming up for their country’s most prestigious tennis tournament.
Nineteen-year-old Denis Shapovalov and his good buddy Felix Auger-Aliassime, 17, will be competing together as doubles partners at the Rogers Cup in Toronto after receiving wild-card entries into the tournament.
This won’t be the first time the pair of Canadians have teamed up together. They won a junior U.S. Open title in 2015 and were runners-up at Wimbledon in 2016.
“It’s gonna be great,” Auger-Aliassime told Sportsnet over the phone Wednesday. “We played, actually, two years ago in Toronto. This time, we’re two really different players with far more experience and [are at] a much better level, so hopefully we get to win a few matches.”
“Coming up in the junior rankings kind of got us closer,” Auger-Aliassime said of Shapovalov. “So we started playing doubles together and won a [U.S. Open junior title] in 2015 so that really created a good bond in our relationship and now he’s one of my closest friends.”
Both Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime will also be participating at the Rogers Cup as singles competitors at the Rogers Cup.
The Rogers Cup takes place in Toronto at the Aviva Centre with the men’s draw running Saturday until Aug. 12. The women’s event is being held in Montreal from Aug. 3 to 12.
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