Auger-Aliassime: "A victory like this doesn't fall out of the sky, it's a whole process"

A whole year waiting for this moment, a 2025 season full of irregularity that threatened not to give Felix Auger-Aliassime his place in a Grand Slam. Things were looking bleak after his performances in Melbourne, Paris, and London, but tennis always welcomes you with open arms if you really strive for it. The US Open has given the Canadian what he was looking for, a ticket to the second week of competition with a remarkable victory included, the one he achieved tonight against Alexander Zverev. A statement win against one of the top contenders, reinforcing the idea that the draw in New York is more open than it seems.

Keeping nerves in check against Zverev

"It went well, felt good, had a tough start, was nervous, which is weird because I've faced this type of players many times before. It was just nerves, once those were gone, I felt good. It's a nice feeling, it has been great progress, I feel like tonight everything fell into place, all the things I've been working on paid off."

Putting aside the disappointment of Montréal

"Honestly, I didn't dwell much on the Toronto loss, moved on quickly. Been training well, feeling good, but one match is one match. Anything can happen there, tonight was very windy, for instance, different conditions. In my mind, it's about moving on to the next tournament and forgetting the previous one, just like I did in Cincinnati. Mentally, I've been seeing things clearer as the weeks have gone by, understanding my game better and how I want to play. A performance like this doesn't come out of nowhere, but you never know when you're going to play at this level on a given day."

The sought-after triumph

"This victory is a big confidence boost, of course. It encourages me and all the members of my team, everyone who supports me. I always try to be ambitious, professional, pay attention to every detail over these years. It can be frustrating when things don't go your way, but that's the life of most players. You have to accept it and be humble in defeat. It's no different from when I was young, it's the same process, you have to be patient and trust that everything you work on in training will pay off on match day. You have to believe that results like this will come."

A match like this cannot be predicted

"Something like this can't be predicted, maybe some athletes could sit here and tell you, 'Yes, I woke up this morning and knew.' That's crap, sorry for my language, but you don't wake up knowing that. You just feel like you know what you have to do, as if I knew what I wanted to do, that's why I did well. Now, how to anticipate what day or night it will happen? You don't know. Obviously, today I woke up feeling very positive, but also in Cincinnati and then I lost 6-0 and 6-2 to Sinner. That day, too, I woke up thinking I was going to win, so I assure you that something like this is always uncertain."

His connection with New York

"New York and Melbourne are hard court Grand Slams, my best surface. I can also play on grass and clay, but over the years, I've felt that my tennis suits hard courts best, it's where we play most often in the calendar. I feel like here I can find my rhythm, feel more comfortable, something like that. That's one of the reasons for this result, I don't know what else to say. Do I like the energy of the city? I don't believe in those things, I'm very practical, I focus more on how I'm playing. Here, I just feel like the conditions suit me well."

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Seeking his place on the circuit

"These past two years have been tough, I feel like everything is different from the years when I emerged and started facing Novak or Rafa, many of us have grown up watching these guys, so having that same belief is hard. I've played against them many times, also against Jannik, who beat me in Cincinnati, so we challenge each other a lot, even those of us of the same age. It's different, of course, my perspective on them and the legends of our sport. Back then, being at a high level at a young age helped me, now the challenge I have is competing with guys my age, regaining that consistency level."

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Auger-Aliassime: “Una victoria así no cae del cielo, es todo un proceso”