Felix Auger-Aliassime matches Lleyton Hewitt and Rafael Nadal, becoming..
The Montreal native Felix Auger-Aliassime was destined for tennis glory ever since he qualified for the Drummondville Challenger in March 2015 at the age of 14! A few months later, Felix was the quarter-finalist in Granby, still before turning 15 and the rest is history, achieving one milestone after another and improving his game regularly to mix successful junior career (the youngest US Open champion) with first pro steps. In 2017, Felix became the seventh youngest Challenger champion in Lyon, adding another one later that season and passing the 40-win mark at Challengers before turning 18!
Felix notched the first ATP win last year at Indian Wells and a year later he became the third-youngest Masters 1000 semi-finalist in Miami last week, qualifying for the main draw and winning five matches before John Isner halted him in two tie breaks. Starting the season from just outside the top-100, Felix reached the final in Rio de Janeiro as the first player born in 2000 to achieve that, securing more triumphs in Sao Paulo and Indian Wells before that incredible Miami run that could have lasted for more, having a break advantage in both sets against the American.
Ranked 185th twelve months ago, super talented youngster carved his way towards the top of men's game, cracking the top-120 in August and lingering just outside the top-100 for four months before that Rio run that propelled himself into the top-60. Competing in Miami ranked 57th, Felix earned massive 376 points, enough to stand on the 33rd position in the rankings this Monday as the youngest player in that group since Lleyton Hewitt in October 1999, when the Aussie was at the same age as Auger-Aliassime today. For example, Rafael Nadal was 18 years and eight months old when he moved inside the top-33 in February 2005 which shows how good Felix's achievement is and what should we expect from him in the following years.
Of course, pure talent means nothing without a proper mindset and determination for constant work on your game; something Auger-Aliassime proved to us in Miami after that loss against Isner. Serving for both sets, Felix got broken in the worst possible moments, only to show up on the practice court all alone right after the encounter to work on his serve. Last year, Felix spent spring and bigger part of summer competing on clay and should be dangerous on the slowest surface in the following two months again, earning Madrid Open wild card and hoping for the same in Monte Carlo.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2KfUPwv
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