Félix Auger-Alissime (2000-) - Promising Young Canadian Tennis Player, and Possible Future World-Class Pro

[DonRocks]

The date besides Félix Auger-Alissime's name isn't the year he went on tour; it's his birth year.

At age 16:

* He's the youngest player in the World Top 800 (currently ranked #749)

* He's the youngest player ever to qualify for, and win a main draw match, on the ATP Challenger Tour (the Challenger Tour is just one step below the full-fledged ATP World Tour - sort of like AAA Baseball). 

* He won the Sopra Steria de Lyon in June, making him the 7th-youngest player ever to win a Challenger tournament.

* He has won both the U.S. Open Junior Singles and Doubles titles.

Auger-Alissime is someone to look out for in future years - here's a highlight film of his Sopra Steria de Lyon victory. Notice the way he can play side-to-side, but also that he's not the least bit afraid to come to net: This represents the next generation of great tennis players (with Federer, and to a lesser degree, Sampras, already having paved the way). This will place more emphasis (slightly more) on speed and quickness than sheer endurance, and will probably make players like McEnroe and Sampras very happy. I don't think he's going to be able to get away with drop shotting this much as his competition gets better-and-better: You don't beat a great player hitting short.

[Steve R.]

Since I go to the US Open at times when the Juniors' tournament is taking place on the back courts when doubles matches are also going on, I wind up seeing pieces of many Junior matches.  I watched him play at last year's Open, didn't know anything about him, but was impressed.  Although quite a number of the best Juniors never make it (for many reasons), their potential is always obvious and its always fun to take mental note and see how it goes forward for the next several years.  I'll keep an eye out this year.

"Félix Auger-Aliassime: on the Mend" by Emma Achour on tenniscanada.com

Apparently, he's been out with a wrist injury, but plans to be back for the quals of the US Open.  Since I'm going to be there for at least 2 of the 4 days, I'll be sure to keep track & watch his matches if possible.

[Steve R.]

First round of the U.S. Open & Shapovalov had a strong opponent in the young Medvadev.  Every time he plays, he gets a stronger opponent & each time he's upped his game & won.  Three straight sets today, showing speed, maturity & some of the best flowing backhands this side of Federer.  I think that 5 years from now I'll be telling people that I got to see this star when he needed to qualify to get in & didn't need to shave.  Wow.  This kid's for real!

[Steve R.]

Tomorrow night (Wednesday), he plays Tsonga in the night session.  Might be a good one.

[Steve R.]

I was courtside as Carreno Busta beat Mahut a couple of days ago, but I really didn't think he was as consistent & composed as he showed he was today, beating Shapovalov in 3 straight tiebreaks.  Great match to watch on TV.  Solid.

[Steve R.]

On 8/23/2018 at 10:49 AM, Steve R. said:

Another year, another chance for Felix A-A to break through.  Unfortunately for him, his performances this year so far puts him in the quals. again.  Yesterday he got thru the 1st round of the quals. but not convincingly.  He needs to win today and tomorrow to get into the main draw.  Hopefully he will, but he's still not looking like he's making the transition with a bang.

He's thru to the 3rd (final) round of the Quals and I plan to go watch his match at 3pm.  Its on a medium back court and follows Robredo vs Mahut, only one of whom will make it into the tournament after all these years.

[Steve R.]

So, there we were, 2 rows in, watching him semi-struggle thru a 6-3 1st set win against G.Melzer, who is an experienced solid player from Austria.  Then, the 2nd set flew by, as he started hitting incredible shots and returning what looked like ungettable blasts from his opponent.  He won that one 6-0.  It's gonna be an interesting US Open for him.

As an aside, here's one for the books.  I have never ever, in over 50 years of watching and playing tennis, seen a player double fault 5 times (yep, not a typo - 5!) and win that game!  3 aces and some really good points.  He's clearly still a work in progress.  5 double faults in 1 game - unbelievable.