Felix Auger-Aliassime’s breakthrough season on the ATP Tour has been brought to a premature end by injury.
The 19-year-old has been forced to withdraw from both the Paris Masters and Next Gen finals after hurting his left ankle. He sustained the injury during practice session earlier this week in Vienna. Despite the setback, Auger-Aliassime is hopeful that he will record in time for the Davis Cup Finals where Canada has been drawn in the same group as the USA and Italy.
“After talking with my team and doctors, we concluded that I wouldn’t be able to compete in the last two tournaments of the season,” he wrote on Instagram.
“I’m sorry I can’t take part [in] the Rolex Paris Masters and the Next Gen ATP finals in Milan… I’m planning to be fit and ready for the Davis Cup finals in November.”
The withdrawal from Milan is a huge setback for the tournament. Auger-Aliassime was set to be the top seed in the event after Stefanos Tsitsipas’ absence. Tsitsipas has qualified for the ATP Finals in London, which takes place after Milan. As a consequence, Dennis Shapovalov is now on course to be the top seed.
Despite his injury woes, Auger-Aliassime has enjoyed a breakthrough 2019 season where he has won 33 out of 55 matches played. Since January he has risen over 80 places in the rankings. During that period he has played three ATP Finals on three different surfaces in Stuttgart (grass), Lyon (hard court) and Rio de Janeiro (clay). In May he became the youngest player to break into the world’s top 25 since Lleyton Hewitt back in 1999. He also became the youngest player to contest a final of an ATP 500 tournament in series history (since 2009) and scored two wins over top 10 players.
The Davis Cup Finals will get underway on November 18th.
