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Former player Jimmy Connors discussed Felix Auger-Aliassime's game and how he can't be living off only the semifinal finish at the US Open when every tournament has to be treated like it's their last. The Canadian had a stellar run under the New York lights, but fell to No. 2 Jannik Sinner in four sets to lose his chance of winning his maiden Grand Slam.
Auger-Aliassime, who peaked at No. 6 in the ATP rankings, was the fourth-highest-ranked Canadian player in history. He reached the US Open semifinals in 2021, his best result in a Major until he replicated that feat this year in New York. The Olympic bronze medalist managed to win the second set, but couldn't get past Sinner in the following two.
Opining on the Canadian's game, former player Jimmy Connors expressed that the 25-year-old can't rest on his laurels now that he has reached the semifinals of the US Open. Instead, he has to use it as a stepping stone and vie for a better result in the next, treating every match and tournament as his last. Jimmy said while conversing with his son Brett in the Advantage Connors podcast (6:12):
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"Felix, who got to the semis, who had a great tournament and all that. He can't think that, you know, I got to the semis in the US Open, I can live off that. They gotta get over that, because they ain't win in it. You know, they gotta say, listen, that's a great, what a stepping stone. A springboard.
"Now it's time for me to really, take off and start taking my place. And he's a young kid, too. He's still young. So, I mean, you can't, you gotta treat every match, every tournament, you know, every opportunity you have as if it's your last. Right. Because you never know how long it's gonna be."
Auger-Aliassime won his seventh ATP Tour singles title at the Open Occitanie in France, beating Aleksandar Kovacevic in the final.
Felix Auger-Aliassime once shared that he has the mentality to win high-level matches
Felix Auger-Aliassime had a decent campaign at the Cincinnati Masters, losing to Sinner in straight sets in the quarterfinals. At the New York Major, the 25-year-old beat third seed Alexander Zverev, 15th seed Andrey Rublev and 8th seed Alex de Minaur to enter the semifinals. However, he lost to the Italian in four sets.
Despite that, Auger-Aliassime believed in himself and was confident that high-level matches like these would eventually go his way.
"It's just the belief, the mentality, the conviction in myself that I have what it takes to win these type of matches. Even in tough matches, like the quarter-finals, there were probably times where I was playing my worst, so to speak... But I was still believing that my time will come and I will play at a good level again. I think those kind of matches are gratifying for me," he said. (via The ATP Tour)
Auger-Aliassime got engaged to his long-time girlfriend, Nina Ghaibi, in November 2024. He and Ghaibi, the Moroccan equestrienne who competes internationally, got married in Marrakech recently.
