Roger Federer believers 17-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime has what it takes to go to the top of the men’s tour.
The teenager has been tipped by many as a future star in the sport. Last year he became the second youngest player in history to win multiple ATP titles after Richard Gasquet following his success on the Challenger tour. The run enabled the Canadian to break into the top 200. Becoming the youngest player to do so since Rafael Nadal in 2002.
The rise of Auger-Aliassime hasn’t gone unnoticed by the world No.2, who didn’t win multiple ATP titles himself until the age of 20. Federer invited the teenager to attend a training session with him in Dubai at the end of last season, but he was unable to due to a knee injury. Speaking about the rising star earlier this week at the Rotterdam Open, the Swiss has tipped him to become a ‘great player.’
“I think he is going to be a very good player,” Federer told reporters. “Unfortunately he got hurt during the time that he was in Dubai with me in December [2017].
“I just saw him this morning for the first time again after I wished him a good trip back home and good rehab. It’s nice to see him smiling and happy again. I didn’t worry for him because he seemed very upbeat, positive and still in a moment that was actually pretty hard for him, being hurt going into Australia.
“I think he is going to be a great player. How good remains to be seen. I don’t want to put too much pressure on him to be honest.”
Auger-Aliassime made his ATP World Tour debut on Tuesday at the Rotterdam Open. Despite a valiant effort featuring 14 aces, he went out 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, to Serbian world No.38 Filip Krajinović. It was only his third match of the year since returning from injury.
“The nerves got to me a little bit in the first set,” Auger-Aliassime told atpworldtour.com. “I started not bad the first two games, but still I felt tight. I felt my ball wasn’t going as it usually does, playing pretty short, not serving so well. The plan was to just hang in there mentally. It was in my control to stay tough mentally, and that’s what I did. That’s why I was so close to winning the match, but he did great. I think he did great on the important points, saving break point. I think he was a little bit tougher than me on those points.”
Given a taste of what life is like on the main stage of tennis, Auger-Aliassime is hoping to build on his debut. He is currently the only played ranker 17 or under inside the top 200 on the ATP Emirates rankings. The next best is Spain’s Nicola Kuhn at 204th.
“I think we’ll start from here,” he said. “I’m just starting my season, second tournament, and it’s exciting. A lot of new things around. I think I’m dealing with them pretty well, but we’ll start from here. It’s really encouraging the level that I played at the end of the match.”
