Felix Auger-Aliassime’s problem with the ATP finals

Last weekend, tennis again told Felix-Auger Aliassime not yet. In a new final in his career, the third in 2020, the Canadian tennis player fell again, before Alexander Zverev, losing for the sixth time in as many finals. There is no doubt that Felix will end up breaking this dynamic and that he will reach many more disputes for an ATP title, but it is also true that statistics are conditioning his performance under pressure.

Felix, used to burning stages with extraordinary talent on minor circuits, has found a problem in ATP that has yet to be resolved. And the player himself, as he has told on the website of the highest male body, knows it. Also his opponents, like Sascha himself, who wished him to break this streak soon after the final in Colonia 1.

“Felix, you are an amazing player. I know it doesn’t mean much right now, but I’m sure not only are you going to win a title, but you are going to win many titles in your career, and titles bigger than this. We know each other. unbelievably well, very soon you’ll be lifting the winner’s trophy. “

Felix’s own reflections do not hide reality.

“It’s hard to say. It happens again in a final, it’s difficult. I don’t play well in the finals. I can’t play my tennis. It’s hard to accept, so I don’t have much to say. I’m disappointed with my level today in general and I will try again. I will try to work and find a way to avoid the nerves. “

As ATP recounts, Felix Auger-Aliassime has already played six tour-level finals and when he reached the final in Marseille, he became the youngest player to reach five ATP finals since Rafael Nadal in 2005. “That statistic is good. . But someday I’ll have to find a way to win one of them. “

Rio de Janeiro 2019: vs Laslo Djere 6-3, 7-5

Lyon 2019: vs Benoît Paire 6-4, 6-3

Stuttgart 2019: vs Matteo Berrettini 6-4, 7-6 (11)

Rotterdam 2020: vs Gael Monfils 6-2 6-4

Marsella 2020: vs Tsitsipas 6-3 6-4

Colonia 1: vs Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-3

And it is that the performance in those finals also shows that he was not close to achieving it. In all of them he fell in two sets and only in one of the 12 sets was he able to force a tie break. A barrier that has conditioned its last three finals, in 2020, where it was widely surpassed. Remembering the strange case of Julien Benneteau, who retired losing the 12 finals he played, Felix will continue to search for what, due to age and quality, only seems something transitory and mental.