Why can't Felix Auger-Aliassime seem to hit through the ball properly?

[merwy]

Especially his backhand. I mean, look at the highlights below. Does that backhand look like it belongs in the top 100 even? But honestly, even his forehand isn't that good. He hits hit with a lot of topspin (influence from Toni?) but it's still not a sure winner like when Nadal or Alcaraz put a forehand away with lots of topspin. Immediately after the Auger-Maroczan highlights, you'll see the Rublev match and you can see how much easier he generates power off of both wings compared to Auger.

What can be the reason for this? He's definitely athletic, he has the power. Does he not have proper technique? Does he lack hand-eye coordination and does he therefore mistime his swing?

 

[Gullungen]

I’m not an expert analyst, but found this video by Tennis Unleashed interesting:

 

[Spielgame]

 

[RSJfan]

His groundies in that clip barely make it past the service line. He needs to learn to Bweh for power and depth.

 

[heavyD]

He needs a new coach in the worst way as Fontang has had absolutely no answers or corrections for his decline. Fontang not being replaced is one of the bigger mysteries of the ATP tour as Felix needed a new voice years ago when he hit the skids as he's now approaching the death spiral. Even his serve has declined and there's simply nothing about his game right now that separates him from top 50-100 players. Even Shapo shows occasional flashes of greatness on a good day. Felix just looks so mid.

 

[helterskelter]

There was a poster who did a long analysis of FAA's backhand grip in fall 2022, around the time of his back-to-back matches against Rune in Basel and Paris Bercy. Can't find it now, though. I think the poster was called Zoid, but his posts seem to have disappeared.

 

[No_Kwan_Do]

Never a good sign when your groundies are consistently landing in the opponent's service box with nothing on them.

 

[platypus50]

He spends too much energy thinking about how loud his next grunt will be instead of actually hitting through the shot

 

[iceman_dl6]

FAA needs to ditch that old 2016 PAVS and get on with the more modern and powerful current PA98 that Alcaraz, Rune and Bublik are using.

 

[BenC]

There was a poster who did a long analysis of FAA's backhand grip in fall 2022, around the time of his back-to-back matches against Rune in Basel and Paris Bercy. Can't find it now, though. I think the poster was called Zoid, but his posts seem to have disappeared.

fyi zoid's sub stack: https://hughclarke.substack.com/

 

[helterskelter]

fyi zoid's sub stack: https://hughclarke.substack.com/

Thanks. Here are his posts on FAA's backhand liabilities:

https://hughclarke.substack.com/p/felix-auger-aliassime.

Auger-Aliassime v Wolf: Firenze Final Analysis + weekly recap

Backhand competency—breaking the plane—Felix trends

hughclarke.substack.com

 

[7thKingSlam]

There was a poster who did a long analysis of FAA's backhand grip in fall 2022, around the time of his back-to-back matches against Rune in Basel and Paris Bercy. Can't find it now, though. I think the poster was called Zoid, but his posts seem to have disappeared.

Since he's a two-hander, his backhand weakness always flew under the radar. He was never given the Tsitsipas kind of criticism. FAA's backhand always was gonna prevent him from being the generational player people expected him to be. Honestly, I was pretty surprised by his 2022 results and career high rank of 6. Definitely felt like overachieving to me

 

[helterskelter]

Since he's a two-hander, his backhand weakness always flew under the radar. He was never given the Tsitsipas kind of criticism. FAA's backhand always was gonna prevent him from being the generational player people expected him to be. Honestly, I was pretty surprised by his 2022 results and career high rank of 6. Definitely felt like overachieving to me

What's wrong with Tsitsipas's backhand? I thought it and his return were the main reasons for his success.

 

[Cramerica]

He just needs eastern European uppers that go undetected. His leg isn't shaking up and down enough during changeovers and that's a clear sign he's dragging.

 

[mike danny]

Since he's a two-hander, his backhand weakness always flew under the radar. He was never given the Tsitsipas kind of criticism. FAA's backhand always was gonna prevent him from being the generational player people expected him to be. Honestly, I was pretty surprised by his 2022 results and career high rank of 6. Definitely felt like overachieving to me

I was more surprised by him pushing Nadal to 5 at RG

 

[7thKingSlam]

I was more surprised by him pushing Nadal to 5 at RG

Yeah, just that calendar year as a whole. Pushing Med at AO2022, Nadal at RG, his Wimbledon in 2021. Then he went falling straight down after that when the expectations got high... early exits at Wimbledon + US Open. That's when I cooled down on him a lot, but the hype continued since he had a great indoor season. Thing is indoor seasons usually don't translate super well, and the field was feeling very depleted at the time (Alcaraz being bad on indoor hard, Nadal injuries, Djokovic in and out, Zverev injured, Medvedev playing poorly).

 

[Musterrific]

Yeah, just that calendar year as a whole. Pushing Med at AO2022, Nadal at RG, his Wimbledon in 2021. Then he went falling straight down after that when the expectations got high... early exits at Wimbledon + US Open. That's when I cooled down on him a lot, but the hype continued since he had a great indoor season. Thing is indoor seasons usually don't translate super well, and the field was feeling very depleted at the time (Alcaraz being bad on indoor hard, Nadal injuries, Djokovic in and out, Zverev injured, Medvedev playing poorly).

False dawn ruthlessly exposed.

 

[7thKingSlam]

What's wrong with Tsitsipas's backhand? I thought it and his return were the main reasons for his success.

lol

 

[Verdi]

Both the ball and strings are made of solid matter.

 

[Oval_Solid]

its too much pressure playing in canada

 

[BumElbow]

Felix needs to hit through the ball more. There is too much spin on his shots and the ball sits up without sufficient put away power. He also lacks variety. Every ball strike is straight out of a textbook for recreational players.

 

[Georgepeppard007]

Especially his backhand. I mean, look at the highlights below. Does that backhand look like it belongs in the top 100 even? But honestly, even his forehand isn't that good. He hits hit with a lot of topspin (influence from Toni?) but it's still not a sure winner like when Nadal or Alcaraz put a forehand away with lots of topspin. Immediately after the Auger-Maroczan highlights, you'll see the Rublev match and you can see how much easier he generates power off of both wings compared to Auger.

What can be the reason for this? He's definitely athletic, he has the power. Does he not have proper technique? Does he lack hand-eye coordination and does he therefore mistime his swing?

I watched him lose to Isner in Miami years ago. I think he was up a break in both sets then double faulted them away. That is when I thought that this guy is super fast and athletic, but he has no feel with the ball.

 

[TearTheRoofOff]

TFW you become a top flight professional and there are video essays on fatal flaws in your technique. The stronk tennis.

 

[Tennfan123]

Toni Nadal is the perfect example of how top tier talent doesn’t need anything more than an average coach. My dog could have coached Nadal with the same results.
Now FAA does need a decent coach. I suggest Sven Gronefeld.

 

[Bartelby]

Did you mean "too much pleasure"?

its too much pressure playing in canada

 

[Passingshot78]

Funny thing is remember interview with some player - dont remember who - and he said that in practicse FAA hits the hardest from all of the guys but when they played sparring it was a different thing.

So based on pro player direct expiriance answer is Its more mental problem than technical.issue