Felix Auger-Aliassime on NextGen rivalry: We'll talk again in 5 years
One of the gripping stories this year on the tennis tour has been the visibly steady rise of Felix Auger-Aliassime. The 18 year old is standing on the threshold of breaking into the top-30 of the ATP singles rankings and by way of it, is also on the cusp of being seeded for the 2019 French Open, a year after having lost in the second round of the qualifiers of the Major, the previous year.
At the 2019 Barcelona Open, Auger-Aliassime is making a fresh stab at closing this gap, after an early loss in Monte Carlo, the week before, to Alexander Zverev.
With him joining the flanks alongside his 'NextGen' peers in the hustle and bustle of the tour, one aspect that comes to mind is about the rivalries that look to be on the verge of developing. Especially now, after his recent matches against Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas (in Indian Wells) and Borna Coric (in Miami).
However, despite the understandable fascination of what could happen as the Tour opens and unwinds further for these youngsters, Auger-Aliassime prefers to take a wait-and-watch approach on the subject of rivalries instead of jumping headlong into assessing it.
Speaking to Tennis World USA during the event's Media Day on Sunday, Auger-Aliassime observed that rivalries helped fans connect with the sport better just as it was good for the sport to have two big players belonging to the same generation competing against each other in big matches. "At the same time," he continued, "For me, (to now) a call a rivalry against Tsitsipas or Zverev is too early, maybe."
Correlating his rationale to the first couple of meetings between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer back in the early 2000s, Auger-Aliassime added, "I think the first time or the second time Nadal and Federer played, people did not know what would happen." So, what would be the optimum time to term his matches against his contemporaries as rivalries, according to Auger-Aliassime. His bordering-on-humorous answer: "We talk again in five years and we see what happens. It could be with (a) complete other player also, so we will see later."
Five years, then, cannot come sooner.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2GA0SIg
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