Felix Auger-Aliasassime was 14 years old when Guillaume Marx started coaching him, and what was most striking about Marx about the young star from Montreal was not the monster service, incredible speed or large forehand, although that were all obvious weapons.
“He had a strong will,” said Marx, who coached Auger-Aliasses for six years. “If he had a competition, he believed he could win. He was completely in. That was the most impressive aspect for me.”
The will, the will, the faith and the “all -in” posture of the Canadian have certainly been impressed lately and to see it completely for everyone to see. In the past week at the US Open, Auger-Aliassime disrupted the world No. 3, 8 and 15 for a return to the semi-final of the Grand Slam four years after he first made it.
The 25-year-old is now two wins away from his first Grand Slam title, with his biggest test before us. On Friday at 7 p.m., Auger-Aliassime will face World No. 1 and the American open champion Jannik Sinner defends a berth to the final on the line.
The last time that Auger-Aliassime was lost, it was for Sinner. Three weeks ago the Italian beat him in the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters 1000 event as the dominant number of 6-0, 6-2. Auger-Aliassime showed a flash of combat flash in that match, breaking Sinner on his opening service game in the second set and winning his serve to take an early 2-0 lead, but that is all he could get from Sinner.
The World No. 27, Auger-Aliassime recorded zero Azen and eight double errors, along with 28 casual mistakes in that competition. All those figures must change when he gets a shot at Sinner.
“He must serve well, it is his number 1 weapon. I don’t see a good match if he doesn’t serve well and then have to play a lot of balls from his service, get into rallies, always serves – that would be difficult,” said Marx, who is of high performance at Tennis Canada. “He must clearly play a great match everywhere, but especially in the first place he must be able to keep serve and go deep into the sets, and then see if he has some opportunities at the end of sets.”
Sinner broke auger-aliassime straight from the gate in their last meeting, which formed the stage for a drubing. “I think that then put a lot of pressure on the entire game, because it is Felix’s strength, his serve,” said Marx. “You can’t beat a man who is number 1 in the world if your number 1 does not perform force.”
The serve of Auger-Aliassime has achieved well at Arthur Ashe Stadium so far. In his four-set victory on the Minaur on Wednesday afternoon, he pointed out in his interview after the game at the game that “not all was not good time” (he had 50 non-forced mistakes), but it was quite a bit of the time. The Canadian ended with 22 Ajzen and 51 winners in the four-set victory that saw him again after dropping the first set.
“He has shown fights and I think he will be in this next game, is convinced that he can use the circumstances of the game – if he has a door that opens that he could go through this door,” Marx explained. “It is clear that he plays an incredible player who will not leave many doors open, but if that happens, with the way (Auger-Aliassy) played the last three games, he will benefit.”
Sinner goes into the semi-final on a dominant run and rides a 26-match winning streak in Hard-Court Majors. Sinner has only dropped one set in New York in his attempt to repeat as US Open Champion, and that was against Canadian Denis Shapovalov. A 20-way winner on the ATP tour, the 24-year-old sinner already owns four Grand Slam titles.
While the Auger-Aliass Time for his first competition, the former world no. 6 comes from a few seasons that fought him and shake confidence. He had not performed well this season in large events prior to the US Open – he did not pass the second round in another Grand Slam and lost his open at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers at home in July, but he played solid in general. Auger-Aliassime earned a few victories at ATP 250 events in January, and Friday will be its eighth semifinal this season.
“The perception of the audience was not positive because he did not perform in the very big events, but he has always been top-15 on the (PIF ATP Live Race to Turin) ranking since the beginning of the year, so this is something I think it has built his confidence in the season,” Marx said.
Auger-Aliassime is now 10one In the ATP ranking list that sees the top seven or eight, for the ATP Finals in November, the seasonal event for the highest tour.
A sevenfold winner on the ATP, Auger-Aliassime comes after achieving one of his goals for the season, that was to come back to the top 10 in the world. He started ranked in New York on 27one And has been moved to the 13th because of his performance so far, higher than it is ranked in more than two years. “I believe he can reach his goal,” said Marx.
No Canadian man has ever won the US Open. In the spirit of Marx, Auger-Aliassime has the ability to write history.
“We know that Felix can play at a very high level and see this level in a Grand Slam semi -final, it’s a big pleasure,” he said. “We know he could do that, and he didn’t do that for a while, so it’s very happy for him that he can show what he can do.”
Auger-Aliassime has always gone into competitions with the thought that he can win, and Marx believes that it is no different for the Canadian, because he is set to go to toe to the world no. 1.
“He performs very well,” said Marx. “I think he comes in with nothing to lose, and with the state of mind to take opportunities when they appear.”
After his last victory over Arthur Ashe, Auger-Aliasmetime was smiling in the middle of the court and said, “The biggest challenges are yet to come, and that is what I live for.”
The next one is the world no. 1, and an opportunity to write history as the first Canadian man who crackles a US Open -Final.
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