Felix Auger-Aliassime managed to break the curse and win his first ATP title in Rotterdam on February 13. Before beating Stefanos Tsitsipas and lifting the trophy in the Dutch event, the Canadian tennis player had lost eight consecutive finals, showing all his management limitations. emotions
However, the definitive consecration of the talented Auger-Aliassime did not come after the victory in Rotterdam. In fact, the Montrealer found his dimension in the final part of the season. Between the tournaments in Florence and Basel, Auger-Aliassime added three more titles to his record and began a streak of thirteen consecutive victories; that he stopped at sixteen due to his loss to Holger Rune in the semifinals of the Masters 1000 in Paris-Bercy.
The Canadian ended the season by playing in the ATP Finals and achieving historic success in the Davis Cup. Canada won the biggest team event for the first time in their history with one of the best versions of Auger-Aliassime, who beat every singles opponent they faced and won the deciding doubles point against Italy in the semifinals.
In an exclusive interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, the Canadian spoke about his Davis Cup victory and his goals for the upcoming season. «I think I’ll dream of that last shot for years. I just thought ‘hit it as hard as you can’, when I realized De Minaur’s ball was going to come out it’s like I lost consciousness, my legs gave out, I collapsed. on the ground and I just remember that they all fell on me.
spilled on that», explained Auger-Aliassime. «2023 and possible rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz? I want to confirm and possibly improve again, chasing the most important tournaments with the aim of winning Masters 1000 and Slams».
Lapentti reflects on Alcaraz
Former world No. 6 Nicolás Lapentti recently compared Carlos Alcaraz’s performance as a teenager to Rafael Nadal’s when he was the same age as his fellow Spaniard. “If you can compare Alcaraz to Nadal when they were both 19 years old, Alcaraz is much better in many different things.
He serves better than Rafa. From the baseline, he’s a bit more aggressive. Rafa was bad with his transition when he was 19 years old, then he started to improve a lot and tried to be more aggressive,” he said. “They move quite similar.
When they have to defend, they are very good, both of them. Then coming to the net, Alcaraz is much better than where Rafa was at 19 years old. So in many ways Alcaraz is better,” she added.
