The Ascent To The Throne Begins For Felix Auger Aliassime

Up next for him is a 1st round encounter with compatriot Diallo in Basel. No H2H yet for them.
Here's hoping he gets that job done, and doesn't register in the WATTLYNM facility. I've picked him in SDL, given his good form lately....
 
At the end of yesterday’s play in Basel, a semi-final between Canada’s two top players, Felix Auger Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov, looked possible at this year’s Swiss Indoors tournament. In Friday’s action Auger Aliassime was scheduled to meet the unseeded Spaniard Jaume Munar, while Shapovalov was due to take on Joao Fonseca.

FAA is currently no. 9 in the race to the ATP Finals in Turin, so still in with a chance of qualifying. He had beaten Jaume Munar in their only previous encounter, but that was six years ago, on clay in Rio. Both players have improved greatly since then, and in Friday’s quarter-final match it was the Spaniard who struck first, breaking FAA to 15 in the fourth game to lead 3-1 after saving two break points in the second.

With Munar leading 4-2, a long, 19-point game ensued in which the Spaniard had another four break points, but he couldn’t convert any of them. However, he held three games later to take the first set 6-3. At that point, to the surprise of many spectators, FAA approached the net and shook his opponent’s hand, retiring from the match. It appears that the Canadian was suffering from a lower back injury. He is still scheduled to take part in next week’s ATP 1000 Master Series tournament in Paris where he will have to do very well if is he is to keep his hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals alive.

The next quarter-final match on court in Basel featured Denis Shapovalov and Joao Fonseca, who were meeting each other for the first time. Shapovalov was broken in the first game of the match, but broke back twice and went on to take the set in the ninth game. In the first game of the second set the Canadian had three break points at 0-40, but couldn’t convert any of them. He was broken in the fourth game as Fonseca moved towards a 4-1 lead. At 2-4 Shapovalov broke back, to love, but was in turn broken to 15 in the next game before Fonseca served out for the set in the ninth game.

In the final set Shapovalov was broken to 15 in the first game and had to save three break points to avoid going 0-3 down. However, at 1-3 he was broken again, to 15, as Fonseca moved ahead 4-1 with his serve to follow. But after the end of the fifth game Shapovalov walked to Fonseca's chair and shook hands with his opponent. The Canadian was retiring from the match, though not for any obvious reason. The final score was 3-6, 6-3, 4-1 in the Brazilian's favour.
 
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Yes, after beating Alexander Bublik 7-6(3), 6-4 in the semi-finals in of the Masters Series 1000 tournament earlier on Saturday, Felix Auger Aliassime has virtually guaranteed himself qualification for this year’s ATP Finals in Turin. Seven players have now qualified for the singles event in Turin, and FAA is currently eighth in the Race, with only the no. 9, Lorenzo Musetti, still in with a chance of qualifying.

Musetti has entered next week’s ATP 250 tournament in Athens, while FAA is the top seed at next week’s other ATP 250 tournament, the Moselle Open in Metz, France. However, were FAA to win tomorrow’s final in Paris, the outcome of next week’s tournament’s would more than likely be irrelevant. FAA will play either Jannik Sinner, against whom he has a 2-2 record; or Alexander Zverev, against whom the Canadian is currently 3-6.
 
Three things Félix will need to win the title tomorrow:

1) Variety on serve - Sinner is just too good at reading serves now for FAA to stick to the outwide. Needs to mix it up A LOT

2) A good day at net or a solid plan B if he's not feeling the ball

3) Wilanders. FAA has to step up and use some good angles not just be happy to rally, because Jannik is going to try to beat him to the punch every time
 
helterskelter said:
Well, I guess we know now which of him and Sinner is going to end up being better.



As many notice, his backhand and his return of serve are really poor. It's not just lack of tactical/strategic resources or making too many unforced errors or being confused or being stuck in a rut. His game is just not as technically strong as it once looked like it might become. It's probably too late to improve that substantially.
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Good effort from FAA today but his backhand weakness was the main thing that clearly differentiated him from Sinner. He was keeping up on forehand, and at least as good on serve.
 
helterskelter said:
Good effort from FAA today but his backhand weakness was the main thing that clearly differentiated him from Sinner. He was keeping up on forehand, and at least as good on serve.
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Good Effort, to hit most of his FHs to the Sinner FH? Even the lowest IQ player knows better.

Sinner's BH is not weak BUT FAA won most points when his FH attacked that side a few times.
FAA returned 90% of balls to the SinFH and then was forced to play his weaker BH side.

FAA also served mostly to the SinFH on his first serve which was also a deadbeat effort.
The lack of Tennis IQ from the NICE Canadian is typical and not changing anytime soon.
 
DariaGT said:
Good Effort, to hit most of his FHs to the Sinner FH? Even the lowest IQ player knows better.

Sinner's BH is not weak BUT FAA won most points when his FH attacked that side a few times.
FAA returned 90% of balls to the SinFH and then was forced to play his weaker BH side.

FAA also served mostly to the SinFH on his first serve which was also a deadbeat effort.
The lack of Tennis IQ from the NICE Canadian is typical and not changing anytime soon.
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The serving to the forehand makes some sense, because Jannik's backhand is simply too steady on the return.

FAA's return overall needs some work. If I were him, I would hire a great server as a practice partner and just polish the return all off-season. It could be the difference between day and night. What's Milos doing these days?
 
Aabye5 said:
The serving to the forehand makes some sense, because Jannik's backhand is simply too steady on the return.

FAA's return overall needs some work. If I were him, I would hire a great server as a practice partner and just polish the return all off-season. It could be the difference between day and night. What's Milos doing these days?
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SinBH breaks down more than his FH and Raz serves to this side intentionally to get more freebies.

Body serves are a thing and his Ad serves to the SinBH were effective to run around and use his FH.

Serving on the Ad court to the Sinner FH kept destroying him as Sin sent it to the weak FAA bh.
FAA FH inside out FH peppering the SinBH was effective.

FAA needs to get rid of this coaches asap they had a decade to fix his BH and improve his tennis IQ.
 
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DariaGT said:
SinBH breaks down more than his FH and Raz serves to this side intentionally to get more freebies.

Body serves are a thing and his Ad serves to the SinBH were effective to run around and use his FH.

Serving on the Ad court to the Sinner FH kept destroying him as Sin sent it to the weak FAA bh.
FAA FH inside out FH peppering the SinBH was effective.

FAA needs to get rid of this coaches asap they had a decade to fix his BH and improve his tennis IQ.
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His backhand was better when he first hit the tour, but it has always been a bit weak. It really seemed to take a dive though during or right after the Toni years. Recently, it has improved, although it still needs work.

I don't blame his coaches, but a coach for tennis IQ would be a bonus.
 
I saw him at the Kyoto indoors as a Teen and even then he ran around his backhand to hit a FH
as that side was weak all the way back then. His coaches like that of Rublev, Thiem are clowns.
The players talent and abilities is what made them climb not these clowns that have done nothing
to improve their strokes, IQ or confidence. Look at Rublev who has a better BH has no experience
in moving up the court to finish a point at the net. FAA has better transitional game but his choices
of when to come in are hit of miss most of the time. FAA has not improved since his teens.
 
Sinner tops both forehand and backhand numbers for good reason, which makes it tough for Felix and the tour. His backhand has improved as a shield but is no sword to hurt an opponent of that quality with.

Indeed his return numbers have gone down compared to his bad 2024, maybe due to the surface/opponent mix and his late form spurt. His serve plus is working now as well as I have seen it.
 
Like Fed great backhand but the only chance of getting through his armour

To target so many balls to the SinFH is suicidal
 
DariaGT said:
Like Fed great backhand but the only chance of getting through his armour

To target so many balls to the SinFH is suicidal
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I dont thinj Sinner's backhand breaks down more than his forehand, but the first return is slightly (!) weaker when he returns from that side. Plus, it would have at least sometimes gone crosscourt into the FAA forehand.

But that body serve is an example of FAA improving. It worked out well.
 
SinFH is a wrecking ball everyone knows his BH took time to improve yet no where near it.

FAA serving to the body of Sin is obvious to top ranked 5 feet kids who cant rely on power yet.
I recall even someone like Delpo not backing down trying to overcome peak Chardy FH level
that was pure fire at the AO and even till the end Delpo kept trying to overpower it and lost 3-3-3.

Simple Tennis IQ is hard to learn or use to your favor when you are too nice or arrogant.
 
Congratulations to Felix Auger Aliassime for qualifying for the ATP Finals for the second time in his career. He joins the Bjorn Borg Group in Turin along with Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev and Ben Shelton.
 
Aabye5 said:
Three things Félix will need to win the title tomorrow:

1) Variety on serve - Sinner is just too good at reading serves now for FAA to stick to the outwide. Needs to mix it up A LOT

2) A good day at net or a solid plan B if he's not feeling the ball

3) Wilanders. FAA has to step up and use some good angles not just be happy to rally, because Jannik is going to try to beat him to the punch every time
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I posted this before their last match and the same is true. I imagine Sinner will be sitting on that backhand though, so that he isn't as open to the body serve. That means variety on serve will be more important than ever for Felix. He'll have to go big to the backhand a lot, but keep him honest.

Don't think he came to net much at all in Paris. The other thing he should do is to try to draw Jannik into the net, make him run as much as possible. Jannik was looking just a tad fatigued there, and Felix wasn't able to take advantage of it.

Edit: probably most importantly, he has to hit his DTL backhand as well as he can
 
FAA is a good server, but I am not sure he has that one serve he can hit 99% of time and win him a free point. That one killer ace.
 
Aabye5 said:
Really? Do you have the source?
Click to expand...

If I find it, I will tag you.

But apparently he has a chronic inflammation around his left knee which is impacting him and he is often playing in pain. He said he was putting off the operation but he feels he might have no choice but to go under the knife. I will tag you and when I find it.
 
BH still the issue with the well spotted DTL missing completely from his arsenal
When he attacked deep down the middle to SinBH, he had success in getting
weak short replies FAA could crush but he did not see this weakness in Jan.

Its a small weakness but in this vid time stamped in fist point you can see he
could have attacked the BH by running around yet goes for broke to FH.
Then forcing a short reply by going midcourt to SinBH and getting a short reply
as Sins side to side commitments are foiled as his extreme open stance forces
him to use more wrist effort which sends the ball out.

Alcaraz uses this area to unpick Sinner supreme side to side game which is
similar to Meds, Zev and other long arm span players. Giving Sinner angles
to work with is just suicide.


hope his knee is not an issue that cell therapy cannot fix?.
Unless of course its just to clear some area restricting blood flow.
Some of the saves in the last few events put crazy stress on them.
 
Good win from a set down today.

I genuinely thought when he was younger that I was looking at the future world number 1. While obviously he will never get there it’s great to see him fulfill his potential as he spent the last few years outside the top 20/30 and it looked like he was just another wasted talent that ended as a journeyman.

With the way the tour is at the moment he should be trying to break the top 5. The level of the top guys outside the 2 guys isn’t great
 
FAA now guaranteed at least year-end #7. If he loses tonight, he will be #7. If he wins, he'll be provisionally #5 and almost certain to end as #5, though if De Minaur were to beat Sinner tomorrow (Sinner might hit his head while jumping up and down with excitement while waiting to walk on court and get a concussion, for example), FAA would be #6 with a win tonight and a loss tomorrow.

I'd put his chances tonight at about 40%.
 
Can Felix Auger Aliassime finish the 2025 season on a high by beating Alexander Zverev in the last round robin match on Friday evening to reach the semi-finals at the ATP Finals in Turin? The German currently leads their head-to-head 6-3, but the Canadian won their only previous encounter in 2025, in the third round of the U.S. Open. FAA will need to play the way he did in New York if he is to advance later today.
 
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Joseph_K said:
Can Felix Auger Aliassime finish the 2025 season on a high by beating Alexander Zverev in the last round robin match on Friday evening to reach the semi-finals at the ATP Finals in Turin? The German currently leads their head-to-head 6-3, but the Canadian won their only previous encounter in 2025, in the third round of the U.S. Open. FAA will need to play the way he did in New York if he is to advance later today.
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Yes he can and did.

Incidentally I was surprised to learn that his coach, Frederic Fontang is French and still lives in France. I always assumed he was Canadian like Felix given he used to coach Raonic. I guess you learn something new every day!
 
So now for the tall order...Alcaraz. What can he do to trouble Carlitos?

-- Serve big, of course
-- Volley well
-- Hit inside the baseline, as much as possible

That's for starters, but he'll have to keep his UFEs down more than he did against Zed.

Edit: on the return, he should exaggerate the follow-through. Often he just bunts it back, and it ends up well long.
 
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There's a pretty decent chance Felix could leap to #3 in the world, post-AO. Especially if he can extend this ATP Finals run. Zverev will be defending 1300 points, Djokovic 800 points, while Felix is only defending 50 (but defending 250 in Adelaide).
 
James P said:
There's a pretty decent chance Felix could leap to #3 in the world, post-AO. Especially if he can extend this ATP Finals run. Zverev will be defending 1300 points, Djokovic 800 points, while Felix is only defending 50 (but defending 250 in Adelaide).
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To play well at the AO, he needs to play like he did at the USO. Haven't quite seen him reach that level again.
 
Aabye5 said:
To play well at the AO, he needs to play like he did at the USO. Haven't quite seen him reach that level again.
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Bear in mind that the end of the year courts suit him much better than most others. He was always likely to have good results over the last couple of months. I agree that he wasn't as good as at the US Open, but it's good for him to have some consistent mid-level success. He has a chance of being #3 next year, though so of course do many others!
 
helterskelter said:
Bear in mind that the end of the year courts suit him much better than most others. He was always likely to have good results over the last couple of months. I agree that he wasn't as good as at the US Open, but it's good for him to have some consistent mid-level success. He has a chance of being #3 next year, though so of course do many others!
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Why do people say this?

When Félix first hit the tour, everyone expected him to play his best on clay because most of his Challenger success came on the surface. His first ATP final (at a 500 no less) came on the same surface. He even called clay his favorite surface at one point. Not to mention he pushed Rafa to 5 sets at Roland Garros...he also saw some success on grass.

But for some reason, he has put everything into hard court tennis, and indoor at that. I blame Toni, who I suspect overemphasized the serve. Or perhaps it was a choice made by his team after the knee injures.

Anyway, he can play across surfaces, he just has to find his best form anywhere to begin with.
 
Aabye5 said:
Why do people say this?

When Félix first hit the tour, everyone expected him to play his best on clay because most of his Challenger success came on the surface. His first ATP final (at a 500 no less) came on the same surface. He even called clay his favorite surface at one point. Not to mention he pushed Rafa to 5 sets at Roland Garros...he also saw some success on grass.

But for some reason, he has put everything into hard court tennis, and indoor at that. I blame Toni, who I suspect overemphasized the serve. Or perhaps it was a choice made by his team after the knee injures.

Anyway, he can play across surfaces, he just has to find his best form anywhere to begin with.
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Because his biggest weapons are his serve and his forehand from an offensive position. His backhand and his return of serve aren't as good. The attacking game makes him dangerous indoors; the relatively weak return of serve makes him less dangerous on grass because he struggles to break.
 
helterskelter said:
Because his biggest weapons are his serve and his forehand from an offensive position. His backhand and his return of serve aren't as good. The attacking game makes him dangerous indoors; the relatively weak return of serve makes him less dangerous on grass because he struggles to break.
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I don't disagree, but he's had success on grass and he's had success on clay. My argument is that he chose to focus more on developing the serve and forehand at the expense of his backhand (and I think this was a change under Uncle Toni). He can improve both his backhand and his ROS, just as he has improved his serve.

The biggest problem he has, on forehand and backhand, is the number of UFEs he commits. If he can bring those down, improve his consistency, he has a shot of being top 3. If he continues to rely only on serve + forehand, I think he can still have great days, but he'll be hard pressed to challenge for bigger titles.
 
Hugh Clarke offers a great breakdown of how FAA's backhand breaks down in big matches. https://hughclarke.substack.com/p/sinner-vs-faa-paris-final-recap


This gif is so telling --
https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd3c99761-d015-458c-a85a-66395361266b_836x390.gif


I mentioned before the Alcaraz match that the backhand down the line would be critical, and you can see how he has improved it, but tends to resort to typical tendencies (e.g., hitting it crosscourt) when things get tight. This is where I think having a tactical coach would be helpful for him. Reading the play, and not just sticking with the percentage shot.
 
Aabye5 said:
Hugh Clarke offers a great breakdown of how FAA's backhand breaks down in big matches. https://hughclarke.substack.com/p/sinner-vs-faa-paris-final-recap

I mentioned before the Alcaraz match that the backhand down the line would be critical, and you can see how he has improved it, but tends to resort to typical tendencies (e.g., hitting it crosscourt) when things get tight. This is where I think having a tactical coach would be helpful for him. Reading the play, and not just sticking with the percentage shot.
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During the match it became quickly plain just how much Sinner's game plan revolved about Felix's backhand. FAA's is the worst in the top10, Jannik's one of the greatest of all time. No joy for the Canadian there, hope for him he improves this stroke.
 
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