Félix Auger-Aliassime has come a long way; the top-ranked Canadian teen is now gracing the online pages of Vogue.
The Montreal native seems to have a maturity beyond his age. He is just 19, but he seems so poised on and off the court. His tennis skills are for everyone to see. He is someone who is predicted to break the rule of Federer, Djokovic and Nadal.
How family helped Auger-Aliassime with his tennis skills?
Auger-Aliassime started playing tennis at the age of 4. His father and his family played a crucial role in helping him develop an interest in the sport. The Canadian likes the sport for its competitiveness. The two players confronting each other was something which was something hugely attractive to the young Canadian. He says:
“He just transmitted his passion to us. I don’t really have a memory of not playing. And at a very young age, I told him, ‘I want to be a professional tennis player.’ What I like most about the game is its competitive side. It’s a duel—like chess or like gladiators. It’s two players confronting each other and finding solutions, and I really like that.”
Apart from his family, the tennis great Roger Federer was another person who helped Auger-Aliassime to excel at the sport. Federer had invited him to join him in a training camp in Dubai in 2017. The Canadian considers Federer ‘almost like a divinity’ but says that being close to him for a long time has helped him feel easy near the Swiss great. He says:
“As a kid, you see Federer with such distance, he’s almost like a divinity, but for me to talk to him and play with him—it reduced this distance a little bit.”
Winning is not all that Auger-Aliassime likes in tennis, He says:
“The best thing for me is the sound of a ball that has been hit well.”