Why Felix Auger-Aliassime says this season’s finish might be his best yet
There’s a certain looseness in Felix Auger-Aliassime these days, the sort of calm that settles into an athlete who’s been through enough turbulence to know how pointless it is to clutch the controls too tight.
That serenity was evident the moment he slid into his chair in Turin, grinning at the idea of having a press conference all to himself. A tiny moment, sure, but it felt like a window into a player who has spent the back half of the season repairing both his body and his belief.
Felix arrives at the Nitto ATP Finals with the quiet confidence of someone who’s aware the late-season surge he produced wasn’t a fluke or a nostalgia play.
When asked if this was the best tennis he’s ever played, he didn’t dodge. “Yeah, I think I had glimpses of that in the past,” he said. There was a pause, a small smile.
“I think the consistency at a good level. Not every match was perfect, but being able to win a lot of matches and playing some matches at a really high level. Yeah, some of the best tennis I’ve played, for sure.”
It’s the consistency he keeps circling back to.
For a player who’s lived through streaks both heavenly and catastrophic, repeating that word feels almost therapeutic. A reminder that he isn’t chasing lightning anymore. He’s building a weather system.
The season’s final stretch wasn’t without its complications. His withdrawal from Basel and the heavy physical load of the Paris Masters had left him managing both momentum and limitation.
He didn’t pretend otherwise.
“Look, it’s the end of the season. I’ve been dealing with some things,” he admitted. “But I feel ready. I feel good.” That kind of blunt realism is becoming one of his trademarks. No dramatics, no melodrama, just a recognition that the body creaks a little louder in November and you adjust accordingly.
Turin, though, always requires more. It’s a finishing school disguised as a showdown. The best players, the most suffocating schedule, the least forgiving margins.
And yet Felix embraces it not as a coronation but as a continuation. This isn’t a player gasping toward the finish line. It’s someone using the final lap to confirm the direction he’s heading.
He hadn’t planned to spend last weekend glued to the Athens results that determined his qualification fate, either. The tension of scoreboard-watching wasn’t enticing.
“I was like, This is going to be a bit stressful to watch,” he said, leaning back with a knowing laugh. “I was trying to stay away from all that stress.” Instead, he monitored scores from a distance and kept his attention on what he could control. Recovery, preparation, and focus.
That theme — staying present, managing controllables — runs through almost every answer he gives. It’s an older, warier Felix than the one who first came to Turin and felt the weight of the occasion press against his chest.
He remembers the wonder of that debut, but he doesn’t romanticize it. “The first time was, Wow. Everything is new. You feel like it’s a life-changing event,” he reflected.
The second time around, the shine hasn’t dulled; he’s simply learned to stand in the light without squinting. “Now I have the perspective of like, Yeah, I made it. Life goes on, career goes on. You can still have challenges after.”
And those challenges begin immediately with Jannik Sinner, perhaps the toughest assignment in the building. Felix didn’t seem fazed. “I start the tournament with the toughest challenge,” he said, acknowledging the scale of it without letting it flatten him.
The point wasn’t bravado; it was opportunity. Overcome Sinner and the message to the field is unmistakable: the form he’s carried into Turin isn’t seasonal luck. It’s evolution.
