Felix Auger-Aliassime

If you haven’t yet heard of the tennis phenom Felix Auger-Aliassime, we respectfully ask if you’ve been living under a rock. Since going pro in 2017, the 22-year-old has shown steady progress against the world’s top men. But lately, well, let’s just say he’s scorching! The signs were definitely there that the 6’4” Montreal native was coming into his own. Remember, this is the young man who beat the 21-time Grand Slam winning Novak Djokovic 6-3, 7-6 at the Laver Cup (a team tennis tournament) in London, UK in September 2022. But then came the individual competitions where everything seemed to fall into place. October has been a huge month for the young and determined champion! First on the 16^th he defeated J.J. Wolf at the Firenze Open, then he beat Sebastian Korda at the European Open in Antwerp on the 23^rd, and next he triumphed over Holger Rune of Denmark 6-3, 7-5 at the Swiss Indoor Basel on October 30^th. Commenting on the serious threat of next generation tennis pros way back in 2019, sportswriter Jed Jones called it, saying of Auger-Aliassime “The 18-year-old has no areas of his game that opponents can exploit…[he] stands at 6’4” and boasts a booming, accurate serve, which is backed up by his equally impressive ground-strokes. He strikes both the forehand and backhand with some serious weight, which his opponents struggle to handle.” (sidenote: Does Jones moonlight as a psychic? Possibly.) Has Auger-Aliassime come into his own? Hell yeah! Are we impressed? No doubt! Even before he was named one of Tennis Canada’s Players of the Year, this young man had our attention, support, and admiration. The sky is the limit for this incredible young athlete, and we can’t wait to watch him shine.