The Ascent To The Throne Begins For Felix Auger Aliassime

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bluetrain4

Legend
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I forgot about him. "Next big thing" is never an enviable position. Well, I guess it is because it means you've done something to get attention. But, it works out about 1 times out of 20. And that's true across most sports.
 
Joseph_K

Joseph_K

Semi-Pro
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Defeat earlier this evening for FAA in his first singles match at the Rennes Challenger in France where the no. 3 seeded Canadian was beaten by the unheralded 25-year-old Russian Aslan Karatsev in two sets, 6-4, 6-4.
 
DRII

DRII

G.O.A.T.
#2,507
#2,507
Dag, what is going on?

how is his health?

he has so much potential, the only player I've seen that could emulate Nadal to a degree - high disruption, high margin tennis, with attacking instinct mixed in (he actually hits the ball earlier than Nadal does on avg)...
 
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Kyle Venema

New User
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Watching Felix the last few years, I really thought he was going to be something special. But every match he seems to get worse, it's very concerning.

I still think he will be good, but don't know if he has the tools to be anything special. I really hope he is the next big thing but his skills aren't progressing
 
raph6

raph6

Semi-Pro
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Kyle Venema said:
Watching Felix the last few years, I really thought he was going to be something special. But every match he seems to get worse, it's very concerning.

I still think he will be good, but don't know if he has the tools to be anything special. I really hope he is the next big thing but his skills aren't progressing
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I feel the same. I still think Shapovalov will be a champion but for Félix I'm not so sure anymore.
 
-NN-

-NN-

G.O.A.T.
#2,516
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raph6 said:
I feel the same. I still think Shapovalov will be a champion but for Félix I'm not so sure anymore.
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What would you say the reasons are?

I have watched him some this last few years but not a whole lot. He still appears to have a lot of ability to me, but at the same time I'm not very interested in his game. It's not that exciting.

https://live-tennis.eu/en/atp-ranking-under-19

Still ahead of the rest in his bracket...
 
Joseph_K

Joseph_K

Semi-Pro
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A tough loss for FAA against Martin Klizan earlier today in the second rubber of Canada's Davis Cup tie against Slovakia in Bratislava. The 18-year-old got off to a great start with an early break, but Klizan broke back twice later in the first set and, after building a 5-1 in the second set, never looked in danger of losing. Score: 7-5, 6-3.

With the teams splitting the first two rubbers it's still all to play for, however, and it will be interesting to see how FAA and Shapo pair tomorrow in what might well be a crucial doubles rubber.
 
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raph6

raph6

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-NN- said:
What would you say the reasons are?

I have watched him some this last few years but not a whole lot. He still appears to have a lot of ability to me, but at the same time I'm not very interested in his game. It's not that exciting.

https://live-tennis.eu/en/atp-ranking-under-19

Still ahead of the rest in his bracket...
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I don't know, he is not serving as well as in the past and it seems like he needs more firepower.
 
gogo

gogo

Hall of Fame
#2,523
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While I'm not surprised at Felix's loss today....he had a tough opponent playing at home...I think he hasn't had overall results as much as many had hoped because he puts to much pressure on himself (and we do too) and tightens up. He's got the skills. It's more of a mental block perhaps.

I hope we all forget about him for a couple of years, let expectations fall, and ultimately he will rise. How far will depend on if he can overcome fear of disappointing others. He is only 18, so maturity alone will help in this regard.
 
Sparlingo

Sparlingo

Professional
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gogo said:
While I'm not surprised at Felix's loss today....he had a tough opponent playing at home...I think he hasn't had overall results as much as many had hoped because he puts to much pressure on himself (and we do too) and tightens up. He's got the skills. It's more of a mental block perhaps.

I hope we all forget about him for a couple of years, let expectations fall, and ultimately he will rise. How far will depend on if he can overcome fear of disappointing others. He is only 18, so maturity alone will help in this regard.
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I agree gogo, Felix is still sure to be the youngest ATP player in the top 100 this year and probably the only 18 year old. How bad is that? He's got weapons and when he was leading the first set today 5-2 he looked like David against Goliath and that would have been the commentary had he gone on to win. Such a cruel game tennis is, either a hero or a bum every match. Today is not a surprise result. I have no idea how Felix's career will go now, it's way too early to judge.
 
vernonbc

vernonbc

Legend
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gogo said:
While I'm not surprised at Felix's loss today....he had a tough opponent playing at home...I think he hasn't had overall results as much as many had hoped because he puts to much pressure on himself (and we do too) and tightens up. He's got the skills. It's more of a mental block perhaps.

I hope we all forget about him for a couple of years, let expectations fall, and ultimately he will rise. How far will depend on if he can overcome fear of disappointing others. He is only 18, so maturity alone will help in this regard.
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I'm not usually one to blame the coach (or give him too much credit) but I have to wonder if Felix is getting the best coaching he could. Fred Fontang is apparently a super nice guy and everybody loves him but he had Vasek Pospisil for three years back when Vasek showed so much promise and Vasek's career totally stalled and went downhill.

FAA has so much talent and I can't help but wonder if he needs someone more dynamic to develop it. The more he loses, the lower his confidence goes. He should be shining and winning matches like de Mineur and Tsitsipas are but I don't see him making the same kind of progress like them. :(
 
Marius_Hancu

Marius_Hancu

Talk Tennis Guru
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Awful 2nd set from both Canadians in doubles today. I mean, Shapo was very poor at net, and FAA isn't at net at all.
In the 3rd, Polasek was much better at net then both, and Canadians didn't return well at all.
 
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vernonbc

vernonbc

Legend
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That video must have been put together by a Slovak fan cause it sure didn't show all of FAAs winners and he had a bunch of them. :laughing: I was very impressed with how he played and how he kept his composure in such intense conditions. He served really well too.

I had to laugh at the kid in the post match interview. He said he'd never felt emotions before like he did today after winning and it must be what it's like to win a slam. No, sweetie, enjoy your win today, you earned it, but winning a slam will be a much bigger deal. ;)
 
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Master_Funk

Rookie
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Watched both match highlights and felix looked like he played even better in the loss to klizan for the majority of the first set. He needs to keep that intensity for the whole match though, which is difficult .
 
stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
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vive le beau jeu ! said:
the US in the late 80's probably... some chang-agassi combo, i guess ?
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Chang (18) and Agassi (20) played DC together in 1990 to win it all. They were also the singles tandem a year earlier when they were 17 and 19 to match FAA/Shapo. It was a 1R tie before McEnroe and then Gilbert got the nods over Chang for QF/SF.

Did Sampras team up early with Chang? If so, that might be the one tandem younger than them. I don’t think so.

Hewitt/Scud won the whole DC for Oz when Hewitt was 18 and Scud was 22/23.
 
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