ROME (AP) — It’s typically Canadian that Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Bianca Andreescu are each children of immigrants.

What’s not typical is that they have simultaneously broken into the world’s elite ranks of tennis players — and will all be worth watching when the French Open begins Sunday.

The 20-year-old Shapovalov burst onto the scene a couple of years ago when he upset Rafael Nadal at the Canadian Open. He is now up to No. 23 in the rankings.

The 18-year-old Auger-Aliassime’s breakthrough came at the start of this year when he reached the final of the clay-court Rio Open.

Then things really started heating up in March when Andreescu, who is also 18, beat five seeded players when she won the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California , as a wild card entry; and Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime — as a qualifier — both reached the semifinals of the Miami Open.

“I grew up with Felix and Bianca and to see how far we’ve come, to see Bianca lifting up a Masters trophy, my mind is exploding,” Shapovalov said in a recent interview.

Read more at: https://www.foxsports.com/tennis/story/o-canada-hockey-hotbed-now-produces-tennis-players-too-052419

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