Felix Auger-Aliassime reflects on turbulent start to the season, saying: ‘This year has been so long’
World number 10 Felix Auger-Aliassime has opened up about his season so far, believing that he “was one of the best players” at the start of the year but now believes he is suffering from a “long year” following a poor run of form.
The 21-year-old made a strong start to the year as he led Canada to their first ATP Cup title as well as reach the Australian Open quarter-final in the same month.
The following month, the man from Montreal won his maiden ATP title in Rotterdam before reaching a second successive final as he finished as the runner-up in Marseille.
However, Auger-Aliassime’s great form was brought swiftly to a halt in the Sunshine Double events as he was knocked out in the first round in both the Indian Wells Masters and the Miami Open.
His poor run continued into the clay season, as despite being the top seed in the tournament, he could only reach the last 16 in Marrakech.
His run of first round defeats at the Masters events continued too as he crashed out of his Monte Carlo opener in straight sets.
Last week, Felix Auger-Aliassime reached the Barcelona quarterfinals and is now through to his second successive quarter-final at the Estoril Open after he avoided a shock loss to Spanish qualifier Carlos Taberner winning 1-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Reflecting on his turbulent season so far, Auger-Aliassime told reporters, “I was one of the best players of the year for the first two months and then had a couple of bad months, some bad losses. It feels like the year has been so long!”
The Canadian continued to discuss his performance in his opening match in Portugal, saying: “It was windy today. I was not patient in the first set, going for too much. I changed my mindset in the second set.
“I was ready to leave my body on the line and battle it out, rally after rally. I got a little bit more confident as the match went on. He is a tricky opponent on clay, he makes you work.”
Auger-Aliassime is now set for a tough task as he plays next-gen finalist Sebastian Korda in the next round, but he does lead their head to head record 1-0.
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