The Ascent To The Throne Begins For Felix Auger Aliassime

vernonbc

vernonbc

Legend
So FAAs in S America for the clay swing. He was going to play qualifying in Buenos Aires but they gave him a wild card into the main draw which was very nice of them as he has to play qualies in the next two. Hopefully he can earn a few points and get himself high enough in the rankings to get some direct entries. Allez Felix!!!!
 
Joseph_K

Joseph_K

Hall of Fame
A tough draw for FAA at next week's Argentina Open in Buenos Aires. In a first-round match between two unseeded players the Canadian will face 22-year-old Christian Garin of Chile. The winner of that match will meet the no. 3 seed, Marco Cecchinato.
 
stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
vernonbc said:
So FAAs in S America for the clay swing. He was going to play qualifying in Buenos Aires but they gave him a wild card into the main draw which was very nice of them as he has to play qualies in the next two. Hopefully he can earn a few points and get himself high enough in the rankings to get some direct entries. Allez Felix!!!!
Click to expand...
I hope he got there early to adjust to the heat after the trip to cold Slovakia. The hot weather goes away Monday but it may be rainy. Tuesday is sunny, cool and windy.
 
vernonbc

vernonbc

Legend
Shudda won that one. Someone or something has to instill in him the ability to win the important points. :(

Oh well. He gets another break next week.
A second clay WC for Auger-Aliassime
By Stephanie Myles February 11, 2019

On the heels of Félix Auger-Aliassime’s wild card into this week’s Argentina Open, he has also been granted a main-draw pass into next week’s Rio Open.

The initial cutoff in Rio, despite being a 500-level event, actually was 10 spots higher than Buenos Aires (which is a 250). Auger-Aliassime currently is just four out of Rio on his own ranking and may well get in.

But now he doesn’t have to worry about it.

Clearly these events see the 18-year-old as a future star.
https://tennis.life/2019/02/11/a-second-clay-wc-for-auger-aliassime/?platform=hootsuite
 
raph6

raph6

Semi-Pro
I'm fearing that all these losses on the ATP Tour will break his confidence. I hope he can have a nice run and break quickly into the top 100.
 
R

reaper

Legend
raph6 said:
I'm fearing that all these losses on the ATP Tour will break his confidence. I hope he can have a nice run and break quickly into the top 100.
Click to expand...

I don't think he even needs a nice run to break in to the top 100. Just needs to win a match...maybe 2.
 
R

reaper

Legend
vernonbc said:
Shudda won that one. Someone or something has to instill in him the ability to win the important points. :(

Oh well. He gets another break next week.
A second clay WC for Auger-Aliassime
By Stephanie Myles February 11, 2019

On the heels of Félix Auger-Aliassime’s wild card into this week’s Argentina Open, he has also been granted a main-draw pass into next week’s Rio Open.

The initial cutoff in Rio, despite being a 500-level event, actually was 10 spots higher than Buenos Aires (which is a 250). Auger-Aliassime currently is just four out of Rio on his own ranking and may well get in.

But now he doesn’t have to worry about it.

Clearly these events see the 18-year-old as a future star.
https://tennis.life/2019/02/11/a-second-clay-wc-for-auger-aliassime/?platform=hootsuite
Click to expand...

I don't know if all these Wild Cards really help the young players. If they're not good enough to win through qualifying they shouldn't be in the main draw.
 
Zebrev

Zebrev

Hall of Fame
Wow, hes nearly 19 already time flies!

6 - 10 career record according to wikipedia

But the good news is he is on a career high ranking.
 
Joseph_K

Joseph_K

Hall of Fame
FAA is already quite a popular player and tournament organisers clearly see him as a good draw and a potential future champion. Hence the occasional wildcards, which also allow him to gain valuable experience at or near the highest level.
-

reaper said:
I don't know if all these Wild Cards really help the young players. If they're not good enough to win through qualifying they shouldn't be in the main draw.
Click to expand...
 
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AMGF

AMGF

Hall of Fame
I watched him play yesterday and I’m a bit worried. I love Felix, he’s from my hometown. His father Sam coached my kids and I would love to see him become a top player.

However, I don’t know if the plan for FAA isn’t maybe too much too soon? He seems to struggle in key moments, he is not clutch. Yesterday he couldn’t finish the job while he was ahead... again. It happens a lot with him. Also I don’t see the genius and inspired tennis that we get to see with Dennis. Just mostly safe tennis with many chances taken at the wrong time and lots of FE and shanking.

I got to watch him play a few years back at the National Center against Denis and I was willing to bet the farm he would be a lot more successful than Shapo. Not so sure anymore.

He is still the best 18yo in the world and that gives me hope that the lack of confidence, many errors and mental glitches are just age related. But maybe they moved him too quickly to the ATP tournaments. I think he needs to play more than a round a week to develop. All these WCs are good if the player is ready and can get a couple rounds or more to get more points/experience and ultimately direct entries (like Shapo). But if not, all these losses might just do the opposite.

I just hope they don’t burn him up and that he can reach his full potential.
 
stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
AMGF said:
I watched him play yesterday and I’m a bit worried. I love Felix, he’s from my hometown. His father Sam coached my kids and I would love to see him become a top player.

However, I don’t know if the plan for FAA isn’t maybe too much too soon? He seems to struggle in key moments, he is not clutch. Yesterday he couldn’t finish the job while he was ahead... again. It happens a lot with him. Also I don’t see the genius and inspired tennis that we get to see with Dennis. Just mostly safe tennis with many chances taken at the wrong time and lots of FE and shanking.

I got to watch him play a few years back at the National Center against Denis and I was willing to bet the farm he would be a lot more successful than Shapo. Not so sure anymore.

He is still the best 18yo in the world and that gives me hope that the lack of confidence, many errors and mental glitches are just age related. But maybe they moved him too quickly to the ATP tournaments. I think he needs to play more than a round a week to develop. All these WCs are good if the player is ready and can get a couple rounds or more to get more points/experience and ultimately direct entries (like Shapo). But if not, all these losses might just do the opposite.

I just hope they don’t burn him up and that he can reach his full potential.
Click to expand...
His scheduling last year was beyond defending. The globetrotting WC tour got Rublev in trouble and when he got a good team around him to guide him through the minor league he started to produce results he could build on. Unfortunately injury robbed him of that momentum. The Umag title and USO QFs were only 18 months ago or less but it seems like years.

I would recommend Felix get out of Montreal and into one of the decent European training centers like Barcelona or maybe with Norman in Stockholm. He is stunted with Fontang.
 
Sparlingo

Sparlingo

Hall of Fame
I agree with the last two posts. Felix is capable of a high level of play but seems to have trouble sustaining it. It seems that his tempo can be upset by little things and his level of play falls off. He dominated the first set of Monday's match but as his opponent fooled him with a few artful volleys he seemed to lose his way countering with a few missed and non artful volleys.
 
stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
I also have to question this Golden Swing schedule...he will get plenty of time on clay in Europe and he grew up playing HC and indoors. NY Open’s cut line for DE was quite a bit below FAA’s ranking. Play that and then a relatively short commute to Delray for qualies before heading west to Indian Wells. It would also insulate him from playing too often in hot conditions he will now face as they move to Brazil (skipping Rio as of now but in São Paulo).
 
Marius_Hancu

Marius_Hancu

Talk Tennis Guru
AMGF said:
I watched him play yesterday and I’m a bit worried. I love Felix, he’s from my hometown. His father Sam coached my kids and I would love to see him become a top player.
Click to expand...


His father and Tennis Canada should have taught him Federer's style, which is loved so much, but that seems to be impossible in Montreal. They should have realized why the public loves Federer - he's not workmanlike, he's spectacular because the 1HBH allows him the easy transition to net. Marketing-wise, he might have claimed then to carry Federer's inheritance, with all the huge goodwill that comes with it.

They embarked FAA on a Nadal, workmanlike 2HBH style, at the baseline.
What do you expect from that?

This is all that's taught here, sorry, just go to Jarry.

Thanks God, Shapo was grown - tenniswise too - by his mother.

I asked FAA in social media to: switch to Federer's racquet to have more control, to a 1HBH (BTW, the 2HBH made Raonic lose his Wimbledon because of its less than ideal transition to net), to much more net play. It's not too late, his 2HBH isn't great anyway. One thing he did - he gave up on the humongous FH takeback he had 1 yr ago.

[EDIT]
Sure enough, Cecchinato, a 1HBH-er, wins the tournament where FAA was.
 
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AMGF

AMGF

Hall of Fame
Marius_Hancu said:
His father and Tennis Canada should have taught him Federer's style, which is loved so much, but that seems to be impossible in Montreal. They should have realized why the public loves Federer - he's not workmanlike, he's spectacular because the 1HBH allows him the easy transition to net. Marketing-wise, he might have claimed then to carry Federer's inheritance, with all the huge goodwill that comes with it.

They embarked FAA on a Nadal, workmanlike 2HBH style, at the baseline.
What do you expect from that?

This is all that's taught here, sorry, just go to Jarry.

Thanks God, Shapo was grown - tenniswise too - by his mother.

I asked FAA in social media to: switch to Federer's racquet to have more control, to a 1HBH (BTW, the 2HBH made Raonic lose his Wimbledon because of its less than ideal transition to net), to much more net play. It's not too late, his 2HBH isn't great anyway. One thing he did - he gave up on the humongous FH takeback he had 1 yr ago.
Click to expand...
Yeah Marius I hear you and I agree. There is no love for 1hbh in the higher levels of Tennis Canada you'll have no trouble convincing me. I'm not sure if that's his problem right now though and it might be late for him to consider a change. If he was really struggling sure. But he's still the higher ranked player born in the 2000s. I don't see his entourage go that way as it is a high risk at this point.

That being said, do you really feel like his problem is more technical than mental? I feel like he's never really strong mentally even when he wins. It feels like any small mistake can send him in a downward spiral. Hopefully it is just growing pains.
 
Marius_Hancu

Marius_Hancu

Talk Tennis Guru
Sure enough, Cecchinato, a 1HBH-er, is in final of that tournament where FAA was, beating up at least for now, the local hope, Schwartzman. 72% on 2nd serve.
Now winning it.
 
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Marius_Hancu

Marius_Hancu

Talk Tennis Guru
@Marius_Hancu

We Canadians should be grateful @denis_shapo was taught everything tennis by his mother, Tessa. For otherwise he might have never learned the one-handed-backhand, to help him win 2 precious points in the latest Davis Cup encounter. @WTA @ATP_Tour @USTA @TennisCanada

These days in Canada and the US it's as though @rogerfederer never existed. Many coaches, the federations here should have realized why the public loves Federer - he's not workmanlike, he's spectacular because the 1HBH allows him the easy transition to net. @USTA, @TennisCanada.
 
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NaomiKonjuhPotapova

NaomiKonjuhPotapova

G.O.A.T.
Marius_Hancu said:
@Marius_Hancu

We Canadians should be grateful @denis_shapo was taught everything tennis by his mother, Tessa. For otherwise he might have never learned the one-handed-backhand, to help him win 2 precious points in the latest Davis Cup encounter. @WTA @ATP_Tour @USTA @TennisCanada

These days in Canada and the US it's as though @rogerfederer never existed. Many coaches, the federations here should have realized why the public loves Federer - he's not workmanlike, he's spectacular because the 1HBH allows him the easy transition to net. @USTA, @TennisCanada.
Click to expand...

Why are @ Yourself?
 
M

Master_Funk

Rookie
Man I hope he goes far in this tournament . There isn’t any major reason why he couldn’t get to the qf or sf. No seeded player until the sf potentially. It’ll mostly depend on felix and how he’s feeling.
 
stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Master_Funk said:
Yeah but he really had the match on his racket there. He was up a set and a break , but the moment just got the better of him. I’d take that rematch over playing another seeded player.
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Seeds are falling like flies here. By end of day, Sousa may be the only one left. Thiem is down a set and a break; Cuevas plays Schwartzman later and owns a 2-0 h2h record on clay vs seeded Diego. The rest are gone.

If Felix does solve Garin, I would be wary of Munar. He has wins over Fognini and Cecchinato the last two weeks and had MPs vs Pella last week. His experience at NextGen Milan’18 is starting to pay off by increasing his confidence level.
 
vernonbc

vernonbc

Legend
So who watched the match? I missed it. Did Felix play that well or was Fabio doing his flake routine? Did FAA serve well, have his forehand going, net play? His composure must have been pretty good to hang in there to the end. Are there any highlight videos? Dang I wish I could have watched. :(
 
toby55555

toby55555

Hall of Fame
I watched, hadn’t really seen much of FAA before and was very impressed with his play, great penetration on his ground strokes, excellent two hander. Fabio seemed a bit bemused like he had been expecting an easier match; never really got any momentum.
 
Marius_Hancu

Marius_Hancu

Talk Tennis Guru
Right now:
97 NCH (103) Félix Auger-Aliassime 18.5 CAN3 579 +7 +39 Rio de Janeiro R16

---
Félix flies past Fognini for biggest win of career

Feb 19, 2019
written by: Tennis Canada

Félix Auger-Aliassime is officially on the board in 2019 and he could not have done it in finer fashion.
The 18-year-old from Montreal claimed a brilliantly composed 6-2, 6-3 win over No. 2 seed and World No. 16 Fabio Fognini at the Rio Open, marking the highest-ranked victory of his young career and moving his record against Top 20 opposition to an impressive 2-0 following his defeat of No. 18 Lucas Pouille last summer in Toronto.

After an early tug-of-war in the first set in which both players were forced to save multiple break points, Auger-Aliassime was the one to take control after a brilliant cat-and-mouse point at the net secured him a break in the sixth game. With Fognini serving to stay in the set, the Canadian reeled off five straight points to break for a second time and push himself to a one-set lead over the 2015 finalist.

RIO OPEN ATP 500: Felix Auger-Aliassime wins first set 6-2 v No. 16-ranked Fabio Fognini – Felix playing well but Fognini is pretty sketchy. Fognini has lost in his opening match at his two previous South American events in Argentina – Cordoba and Buenos Aires.​
— Tom Tebbutt (@tomtebbutt) February 19, 2019​

Auger-Aliassime remained in the driver’s seat in the second set, breaking the mercurial Italian early on and continuing his brutally efficient pattern of sharply angled backhands and crisp forehands down the line. His focus was unwavering until the final game, where, leading 40-15 while serving for the match, he sprayed three consecutive errors to allow Fognini a break point. Yet with maturity beyond his years, Auger-Aliassime buckled down and tidied up his game, saving two more break points before ultimately sealing the biggest win of his career.

The kids are alright​
Felix Auger-Aliassime scores the biggest victory of his career with a 6-2 6-3 victory over world no. 16 Fabio Fognini @RioOpenOficial. pic.twitter.com/pSIw0R7o5w​
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 19, 2019​

The victory not only secures Auger-Aliassime $24,560 USD and 45 precious ranking points, but it vaults him into the ATP Tour’s Top 100, a symbolic milestone for the Canadian, who fell just short of that ranking goal at the end of 2018.

Up next for Auger-Aliassime is a rematch of last week’s first-round loss to former French Open junior champion Christian Garin, who won 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 over the 2016 US Open junior champ last week in Buenos Aires.
---
 
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NaomiKonjuhPotapova

NaomiKonjuhPotapova

G.O.A.T.
Joseph_K said:
FAA did so well to close the match against Fognini out after leading 6-2, 5-3, 40-15, then being caught at deuce and having to save two break points before winning, 6-2, 6-3. An impressive temperament on show there.
Click to expand...

True. I was like "Are you really going to choke away Felix No!". Hopefully this boost more of his confidence.
 
R

reaper

Legend
toby55555 said:
I watched, hadn’t really seen much of FAA before and was very impressed with his play, great penetration on his ground strokes, excellent two hander. Fabio seemed a bit bemused like he had been expecting an easier match; never really got any momentum.
Click to expand...

The betting movements prior to the match indicated an upset was in the offing. Fabio may not have been seen on the practice court going into the match.
 
Beacon Hill

Beacon Hill

Hall of Fame
vernonbc said:
So who watched the match? I missed it. Did Felix play that well or was Fabio doing his flake routine? Did FAA serve well, have his forehand going, net play? His composure must have been pretty good to hang in there to the end. Are there any highlight videos? Dang I wish I could have watched. :(
Click to expand...
The scoreline looks like a routine win, but it was actually a close match. Change a point or two in each set, and it could have shifted the other way. This includes if Fognini won one of the two break points to get back on serve late in the second. Both played well, and, apart from when he served for the match, Felix did not have unforced errors in bunches. Felix limped over the finish line after a strong performance, and it would have been painful to see him blow his lead and not come through.
 
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