Felix Auger-Aliassime gives fitness update after injury setback during Jannik Sinner match
Felix Auger-Aliassime’s ATP Finals campaign didn’t get off to the best of starts as he not only lost his opening match against Jannik Sinner, but also picked up an injury.
The Canadian, whose place in the season-ending tournament was confirmed at the last minute, made a positive start to his Bjorn Borg Group clash against the world No 2 as they were on serve until the 11th game of the first set.
But then misfortune struck while serving at 5-6 as he started feeling his left calf with the score 0-30 and, although he managed to save two break points during the game, Sinner broke and took the first set 7-5.
Auger-Aliassime took an off-court medical timeout after the conclusion of the opening set and was able to continue, but he was unable to regain his momentum and the Italian went on to win the second set 6-1.
There is no time for an extended break as the world No 8 will be back in action in Turin on Wednesday when he takes on Ben Shelton in his second round-robin match, but the big question is whether or not he will be fit.
When asked if it’s something that could be dangerous, he replied: “No, not dangerous. I’m not too concerned. He’s an amazing player. You have to give credit when the guy is just better than you. Today he was better than me. I’ll get ready for the next one.
“But no, I’m not too worried.”
ATP News
Who is Felix Auger-Aliassime’s coach? Long-time mentor Frederic Fontang
Jannik Sinner’s new girlfriend gets lots of attention as he starts ATP Finals title defence
The 25-year-old has enjoyed an incredible past few months as he reached the semi-final of the US Open, quarter-final of the Shanghai Masters and Swiss Indoors and finished runner-up at the Paris Masters.
He was due to compete at last week’s Moselle Open, but withdrew at the last minute as he had “been struggling with a lot of physical issues”, stating: “I’m not going to make the same mistakes I made in the past. My physical condition and health are really my priority, above qualifying.”
So is the calf injury related to the Metz issues?
“No, I talked about this week why I withdrew from Metz. Nothing with the calf. Yeah, let’s see. I mean, it was a good match. It was a good match until the end,” he stated.
“Like I said in the first answer, I’m not too worried.”
Auger-Aliassime is now 3-4 against Sinner as he has lost four in a row against the Italian and he was full of praise for the four-time Grand Slam winner with his rival’s serving and returning game top notch.
“I’ve never played maybe like Roger [Federer] in his prime. But yeah, I think for now, because the way you start a match …But him, four first serves pretty much on the lines, serving I think like almost 80% first serves in the first set,” he said.
“Also returning, doesn’t really miss second-serve returns. He missed actually a few, which is rare. But yeah, probably the best combination.”
