The Rise of Felix Auger-Aliassime
Mexico City, June 17th 2022.-
Today he is part of the Top 10 in the world rank and he is only 21, however, Félix Auger-Aliassime`s rise to fame among many began when he became the first player since Rafael Nadal in December of 2002 to enter the Top 200 and in May of 2019 with only 18 years became the youngest player to break into the Top 25 since Lleyton Hewitt in 1999.
Currently No. 9 in the world, it`s confirmed that his rapid success is not solely due to a streak of luck while sorting points, rather much more on his playing skills and consistency, leading him to play 10 finals on the ATP tour.
Three in 2019, three in 2020, two in 2021 and two thus far this year (2022), at age 21 he finally managed to lift his first title on the singles circuit in Rotterdam, beating other Top 10 players such as Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev just to name a few.
Although losing at such young age a high number of tour finals, making it a bit difficult to swallow for any other player, Felix has sought to learn from each one. His greatest achievement, in addition to winning his first ATP title, was having been instrumental in Canada`s ATP Cup finals win, in January, where he managed to beat the No. 3 seed at the time; Alexander Zverev in the 2021 US Open, becoming the first Canadian semifinalist in Grand Slam history (1881).
Part of his success is due not only to the years he`s been putting a hard sweat, but also having Frenchman Frédéric Fontang alongside and begining to train with Toni Nadal for the 2021 season, who later formally joined his team as a coach/advisor. The Canadian states that Rafa Nadal’s uncle has helped him gain more self-confidence.
On a personal level, Felix, or FA2 as he is better knowned, has stated that his generation grew up looking up to the so called “Big Three”, but his child idol was Roger Federer, with whom he shares his birthday.
He also found some similarities in his game with recently retired Frenchman Jo Wilfried Tsonga, whom he admires and hopes to one day have his same serve style like when he was at the peak of his game.
He describes himself as an honest, loyal and resilient person. He will be attending for the very first time in his career the Mifel Tennis Open in Los Cabos, which celebrates its sixth edition from August 1st thru the 6th