“My back is against the wall” Felix Auger-Aliassime introspects after his first match loss against Casper Ruud in the 2022 ATP Finals
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ATP Finals debutant Felix Auger-Aliassime is currently one of the most popular and loved faces in the tennis community. With four ATP singles titles up to his name in 2022 alone, the 22-years old professional also performed extremely well in the Grand Slams, especially in the Australian Open. Notably, all of these performances helped him to qualify for the ATP Finals this year.
That’s not all, Felix Auger-Aliassime is only the second Canadian player in tennis history to qualify for the ATP Finals tournament. He hoped to kickstart his campaign at the prestigious tournament with a win. However, on Sunday, Norway’s third seed Casper Ruud downed Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6(4) 6-4 to kickstart the round-robin campaign in the season-ending championship.
Casper Ruud defeated him in straight sets. He was very disappointed with his performance on the court.
“My back is against the wall. It would have been better to start with a win here. For Casper, I’m sure it’s a big weight off his shoulders. For me, I need to bounce back and play better, play a little bit better. I’m not far from playing well, but there are a few things I can do better. I will try to use the day tomorrow to do that, to work on a few things,” he said in the post-match conference.
The loss has added pressure on the Canadian to win his remaining matches at Turin if he hopes to advance into the semi-finals.
“I was thinking about it the past few days. It’s kind of strange. You have this stress and pressure, this energy to qualify for this event the whole year. Especially at the end of the year, [with] the way I did it. You [come here], but there are still matches to play and compete. It’s not like, now I’m qualified, I can rest. I was thinking that would be a mistake, to come here and act like I’m happy and this is it,” Mr. Auger-Aliassime answered candidly.
Felix Auger-Aliassime has to win his next two matches against tennis sensations: Rafael Nadal and Taylor Fritz. It will be a tough task for Canadian. Hopefully, he will prove his mettle against them.
Can Felix Auger-Aliassime win the ATP Finals 2022?
Interestingly, the Felix Auger-Aliassime is drawn in the Green Group with Rafael Nadal, Taylor Fritz, and Casper Ruud. None of these players have the experience to win the ATP Finals trophy ever before.
This is very different from the Red Group and particularly easy draw. However, it does not mean that the Green Group is lacking in quality. But the 22-year-old was coming on the back of a winning run. He won back-to-back trophies. He won the Firenze Open, European Open, and the Swiss Indoors at the Basel tournament. He played the semi-final match in the 2022 Paris Masters against Holger Rune.
He also discussed his approach going into the match.
“I felt good today. No problem. I was thinking maybe my first time I’m not going to feel great. From the first balls, I felt good, I felt normal. I’ve played on other big stages before. This match [didn’t] feel any different,” he said.
However, he thinks he has figured out the mistake he was making in the last match and vowed to not repeat that.
“I feel in the past few weeks and months, when I was playing well, I was returning much better than I did today. [I was] still serving great, apart from one game where it wasn’t even my serve. I did a few mistakes, bad mistakes, in the second set. I felt like I could have returned much better and given myself chances because I won [only] a few points on my return, and that’s not enough against a player like Casper,” he further added.
This may be the first time the 22-year-old is playing in this tournament, but we are hoping to see some brilliant performances in the upcoming matches.
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