Felix Auger-Aliassime Claims Jannik Sinner Has Best Serve and Return Combination After ATP Finals Defeat

Jannik Sinner kick-started his title defense in an emphatic fashion, defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets in his first round-robin match of Group Bjorn Borg. The win has helped the Italian improve his head-to-head record to 4-2.

Before this season, Sinner used to trail 0-2 in the head-to-head matchups against the Canadian ace. This season, he has now claimed four consecutive wins.

Sinner knocked out the 25-year-old in the Cincinnati Masters quarterfinal before eliminating him in the US Open semifinals. Before arriving in Turin, both players featured in the Paris Masters final, where the four-time Grand Slam champion clinched the win, lifting his career’s first title in the last Masters 1000 of the season. Following his defeat in the ongoing event, Auger-Aliassime, while analyzing the match, said the 24-year-old has the best serve and return on the tour.

That I’ve played, yeah. I’ve never played, maybe like Roger [Federer] in his prime. But yeah, I think for now, because the way you start a match, all right, go ahead, serve. But him, four first serves pretty much on the lines, serving, I think, like almost 80% first serves in the first set. Also returning, doesn’t really miss second-serve returns. He missed, actually, a few, which is rare. But yeah, probably the best combination.

Auger-Aliassime, who made his ATP Finals debut in 2022, got the chance to play the event for the second time in his career because of Novak Djokovic‘s victory in the final of the first edition of the Hellenic Championship.

The World No.8 skipped the ATP 250 Metz Open and instead waited for the result of the Athens event. Had Lorenzo Musetti defeated the Serb in the final, and had both Musetti and Djokovic played, Auger-Aliassime wouldn’t have been a part of the draw.

Djokovic, the tournament’s most successful player with seven titles, withdrew for the second consecutive time. The 38-year-old last lifted the title in 2023 by beating Sinner.

Jannik Sinner on his relationship with Carlos Alcaraz

Jannik Sinner‘s off-court relationship with Carlos Alcaraz, for sure, has evolved as the year progressed. Before the ATP Finals, they even practiced together, and every now and then, clips of them cracking jokes and praising each other would surface on the internet. During his interview with Tennis Bolshoi, Sinner shed light on his camaraderie with the six-time Grand Slam champion.

We just know each other better, which is normal; it’s something natural. You know, growing up, you see him a bit more in the locker room, on the practice courts, sometimes you practice together and you talk about different stuff, not only about tennis, and you get to know him better, and I think it’s great, it’s nice, obviously we both know what’s on the line in every tournament.

While Sinner is playing the ATP Finals as the defending champion, the reigning French Open champion is aiming to win it for the first time. The Spaniard went past fellow Group Jimmy Connors member Alex de Minaur to schedule his second round-robin match against Taylor Fritz.

The year-end championships title is on the line. After dropping to the second spot in the rankings table after his US Open final defeat, Sinner returned to the No.1 ranking after winning the Paris Masters, where Alcaraz lost in the opening round against Britain’s Cameron Norrie.

Alcaraz and Sinner have won eight and five titles, this year, from 10 and nine finals, respectively. While Alcaraz is chasing his sixth Big Title in the season-ending championship, Sinner has claimed three. The last title the 22-year-old won was the Japan Open by beating Fritz.

Also read: Aryna Sabalenka Reveals How She Plans to Mentally Regroup after WTA Finals Loss to Elena Rybakina

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