'Never A Moment I Lost Motivation': Auger-Aliassime On Challenging 2023 Season
ATP
Felix Auger-Aliassime won an ATP title in 2023, but it only papered over the cracks on what was a dismal year for him.
The hard-hitting Canadian started last season at a career-high ranking of No. 6 and was billed as a main-stage player. With four titles from his best year in 2022, Auger-Aliassime was destined to climb to dizzying heights.
But when he took the first step, he came crashing back to earth. He finished the 2023 season ranked 29th - his lowest ATP ranking since 2019. In the midst of a very challenging year, Auger-Aliassime battled two excruciating injuries.
Auger-Aliassime was perturbed by knee pain in Dubai, Indian Wells, and Miami. His preparation for the clay swing was abruptly halted by a shoulder injury that forced him to pull out from the ATP 250 event in Lyon just before Roland Garros.
Heading to the clay Slam without any confidence or momentum, he was knocked out in the first round of Roland Garros by Fabio Fognini, having spent the previous night sleepless due to a stomach bug.
Ahead of his first match of 2024 at the ASB Classic, Auger-Aliassime told Stuff New Zealand he never lost motivation for the sport, although he felt injuries restricted his strengths last season. Overall, it was a valuable learning lesson.
"Things didn’t go well for me and every part of my game started going down. My serve, my movement and it took me a few months to come back to a good level. It took until the end of the year, after the US Open, to start feeling like I’m playing well again."
"It then took me a couple of weeks to eventually come back to the level where I was able to win a tournament like Basel. There are things to learn from that year. But there is never a moment where I had a loss of motivation or desire to be better and competitive. It fuelled the fire inside me and the desire to face this adversity in the best way."
His run from the start of the clay court swing until early October is the worst sequence of results he has put together since he burst onto the scene on the ATP Tour. But he felt his level was improving at the US Open, where he lost to Mackenzie McDonald in four sets.
He began winning sets more regularly, which soon elevated his confidence and general feel of the ball. In autumn, he won back-to-back matches for the first time in a while. When he went to defend his title in Basel, he faced a massive rankings slide.
Not many people gave him a chance, but he defied the odds to win the Swiss Indoors again saving a match point during the tournament. The 23-year-old never lost sight of his objective, and once he was able to unlock his true potential and get his health in check, results started to stream.
"It was encouraging, so I kept putting in the hard work in training, putting in the hours, to get better, find the right adjustments to win those types of matches."
"Eventually, with that belief and those encouraging matches, two weeks later, I was able to win a tournament again. It doesn’t come back like this."
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