“Excuse my language, but that's a stupidness”

Between the elimination from the first match played at home, in the Masters 1000 tournament in Toronto, and the advancement in the second week at the US Open, Felix Auger-aliassime He stayed on the field for hours at workouts. Something usual, but in the end he paid off.

First he reached the quarterfinals in Cincinnati, all the Masters 1000 tournament, and these days are approaching at Flushing Meadows of his best result in major tournaments, semi -final of 2021.

But there, on Saturday night, eliminated in round 3 on Alexander Zverevfavorite 3 and finalist at the US Open in 2020. The hours of work took him well: the confrontation with the German lasted 3 hours and 48 minutes, even though there were four sets.

The Canadian, a former world number 6, played a tennis full of tupe, attacking and very successful: he came 27 times to the net and lost only three points!

50of winning strokes Felix Auger-Aliassime in the match with Sascha Zverev, compared to the 29 opponent

Victoria is all the more precious as Zverev was leading him with 5-1 In direct matches, but Felix had won their only duel in Grand Slam tournaments at Wimbledon 2021.

Summary of Auger -Aliassime – Zverev match

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uifkdboev7k

After the match, the series 25 analyzed what happened on the field, but also the entire process that brought it so far.

Felix Auger-aliassime: “Simply go to the next tour and try to prepare”

“Yes, it was good, obviously. I felt good. I had a difficult start, but then, to be honest, I was a little nervous, even though I was confronted with these players in such situations. It was just a little nervous“He started in the press conference.

“Once I went over this, I felt good. It's nice because, yes, it was a continuous process, and I feel that tonight everything was very good, and all the things I worked have paid off.”

Between the rapid elimination of Canada, after which he did not camouflage his disappointment, and the current moment, what happened in these two weeks to recompose confidence?

“Honestly, I didn't think much about the defeat in Toronto. I quickly passed it. I was training well, I felt good. A match is a match. Whatever can happen. That night it was quite windy. The conditions were very different“He recalled.

“You simply go to the next tour and try to prepare for him, at Cincy, and then here. Certainly, as the weeks passed, at least I felt like they were doing things very well. Mental more clarity, in my game and the way I want to play“, The Canadian detailed.

An performance like this does not fall from heaven, but you never know when you will play on that level on a certain day- Felix Auger-aliassime

Felix Auger-Aliassime: “And at Cincy I woke up with the feeling that I would win, but I lost 0-2 with Sinner”

Has he had the feeling or an indication that in this match he will succeed in putting everything together and delivering an evolution worthy of the high phases of a Grand Slam tournament?

“No, you can't predict it. Some athletes could stay here and say:“Yes, I woke up in the morning and knew.”That's a stupidity-excuse my language-but you don't wake up knowing that. You simply feel like you know what you want to do. I knew what I wanted to do. I did it well. Now do you know what night or what day will happen? You don't know“, Continsed Felix.

Felix Auger-Aliassime in action at the US Open Photo: Imago Images

“Yes, obviously I woke up with a positive condition, but even in Cincy, I lost 0-2 in front of Sinner, and yet I woke up with the feeling that I would win. You can never know, seriously“He ended, smiling.

His next opponent, for a place in the quarterfinals, is the Russian Andrey Rublev (27 7-1. It will be their first duel in a great slang tournament.