Felix Auger-Aliassime emotionally explains his Australian Open retirement
NewsMonday, 19 January 2026 at 16:23
Felix Auger-Aliassime's 2026 Australian Open campaign ended in the worst possible fashion when he retired in the opening round, and the Canadian talked about the situation afterward.
Auger-Aliassime might have started the year with newfound belief due to an excellent second half of 2025. After a mainly challenging 18 months preceding that, he qualified for the 2025 ATP Finals with a succession of impressive results.
His achievements included reaching the 2025 US Open semifinals and the 2025 Paris Masters final. Auger-Aliassime's chances of winning the title in the French capital were effectively ended by a leg injury that made competing with Jannik Sinner impossible. He lost that final 0-6, 2-6.
The 25-year-old made a positive start against Nuno Borges at the Australian Open by taking the opening set 6-3. Unfortunately, the leg injury he struggled with in Paris resurfaced, making it challenging for him to run properly.
Although he stayed competitive in the next two sets, losing them 4-6, 4-6, Auger-Aliassime determined it was not worth completing the match. He retired at 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, handing Borges victory.
In his post-match press conference, Auger-Aliassime was very upset by having to retire, especially because he did not entirely know the reason for his persistent leg issue. He will work to find the answer in the coming days and weeks.
"I want to be on the court competing with my opponent. I don’t want to be just standing there, you know, like a punching bag. So there’s no point. I don’t have all the answers now. I’m trying to be very professional at everything I do, prepare well. I love this sport, and I love to play. So I try to do everything I can in my control to get ready."
"It hurts even more, because you know, if I wasn’t really ready or I wasn’t doing everything, then you have to be honest with yourself. But even with being honest with myself, I’m not totally finding the reasons why this is happening. It wasn’t happening in the past, so I’ll have to figure it out."
Auger-Aliassime will try to ensure this setback does not derail his 2025 season. Since he has many points to defend later in the year, the Canadian's best chance of moving up the rankings is in the opening few months.
Matteo Berrettini withdrew from the 2026 Australian Open
The opening few days of the 2026 Australian Open were highly entertaining, but they might have been even better had it not been for a few withdrawals. Among the most notable of these came from Matteo Berrettini.
Although the Italian was in the initial draw, he ultimately withdrew because of pain in his obliques. Berrettini also suffered with that problem in 2025, and its persistence must be concerning for a man who has been repeatedly unlucky with injuries for the past few years.
Jack Draper's withdrawal was among the most notable of those that occurred before the draw. He has not played since the opening round of the 2025 US Open because of an arm injury, despite initially hoping to be back for the start of 2026.
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