Felix Auger-Aliassime believes his patience is being rewarded as he knocked Alexander Zverev out of the US Open.
The Canadian was in fine form as he produced a 4-6 7-6 6-4 6-4 victory over the German in an aggressive and proactive performance.
After an inconsistent year, Auger-Aliassime will be pleased to be finding his best tennis again as he looks to finish the season strong.
Speaking after the match Auger-Aliassime admitted he was a bit nervous but was happy to get the win, “I had a tough start, but then after, like a bit nervous, to be honest, even though I’ve faced these players in these situations. It was just a bit of nerves. Once that got away, I felt good. It’s nice because it just, yeah, it’s been a work in progress, and I feel like tonight everything came together very nicely, and all the things I’ve been working on have paid off tonight,” the Canadian stated in his press conference.
After a rough start to his US hard court swing on home soil in Canada, Auger-Aliassime has finally found his game and confidence.
The Canadian spoke about how he completely blocked out the loss in Toronto and focused on resetting himself ahead of the rest of the tournaments, “Honestly, I didn’t spend too much time thinking about the loss in Toronto. Like, I moved on quickly,” the Canadian explained.
“No, I was training good, I was feeling well. You know, a match is a match. Anything can happen. It was quite windy that night too. It was very different conditions. You just go on to the next tournament and try to prepare for that one, in Cincy, and then same thing here again.
“For sure, as the weeks went on, at least in the practice I felt like I was doing things really well. Mentally, you know, more clarity, in my game, and how I want to play. So for sure, yeah, performance like this doesn’t fall out of the sky, but you never know also when you’re going to play that level on any given day, you know.”
The work Auger-Aliassime has put in the output of all the hard work he has put in over the last few weeks.
Speaking about trusting the process, Auger-Aliassime said that patience pays off and you can never tell when you’re going to reap the rewards of successful hard work, “Yeah, well, it’s a great boost of confidence, for sure. Encouraging for myself, my team, everybody that’s been supporting me,” Auger-Aliassime said of his latest big win.
“But, you know, myself first, it’s just like I try to always stay ambitious, professional, and to take care of every detail throughout the years. It can be frustrating when it’s maybe not paying off as much, but that’s the life of most players. You have to accept it and I think be humble in losses.
“It’s no different than when I was a bit younger. It’s the same process. And then you have to be patient. You have to be patient and trust that, like, if you have clear intentions in your practice and when the match comes that results like this will come.
“No, you can’t predict it. Some athletes might sit here and be like, Yeah, I woke up this morning and I knew. That’s BS — excuse my language– but you don’t wake up knowing that.
“You just feel like, okay, you know what you want to do. Like, I know what I wanted to do. I did it well. Now, do you know which night it’s going to fall or which day? You don’t know. Yeah, obviously I woke up feeling positive, but even in Cincy, I lost 0 and 2 to Sinner, also woke up feeling I was going to win. You never know, really.”
Next up for Auger-Aliassime is Andrey Rublev in the fourth round on Monday with the winner likely facing Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals.
The head-to-head sees Rublev lead the series 7-1.
