LONDON | Yes, the left knee injury that bothers Félix Auger-Aliassime injured him in his first-round loss at Wimbledon, Monday. But not only that, confirms his coach Frédéric Fontang: Félix also has to “gain back his self-confidence, adapt his game”.
The Quebecer therefore currently has two problems. He must first heal this famous tendinopathy in his left knee which has occupied him for several months.
A pain that comes and goes, but which began to hamper the 11th favorite again on Monday in the third set when he met American “lucky loser” Michael Mmoh, 119th in the world (whom he beat 7-6 (4th). ) lost). , 6-7(4), 7-6(4) and 6-4), Fontang mentioned.
This process will take a long time, says the “FAA” trainer, but he is on the right track, he also assures.
In Washington instead of Toronto?
If Félix also said on Monday he was targeting a possible return to competition at the Toronto Masters in early August, the Frenchman rather mentioned to the Journal the possibility that his protégé would return to the Washington game a week earlier.
“All this is new for Félix, but also for his team,” emphasizes Fontang. And there’s that end of the year where he’s played a lot and won a lot [trois titres] in a row. There was also the Masters at the end of the season, the Davis Cup… There are a lot of games, a lot of intensity. Eventually the body said “stop”.
Just one win in five games
The second problem is that Auger-Aliassime has played – and won – little in recent months. Since the Miami tournament in March, the last he attended before his knee began to hurt, the 12th in the world has won just one of the five games he has played.
It was on clay in Lyon, against the 240th player in the ATP, the Spaniard Pablo Llamas Ruiz.
Félix Auger-Aliassime during his loss to Dusan Lajovic on his Madrid Masters return. Photo: AFP
Against Mmoh, it seemed obvious that the Quebecer had trouble executing certain moves at times. “Sand and grass are the two worst surfaces for a knee,” emphasized Fontang.
Regain confidence in your game
Yet despite Auger-Aliassime being so committed to his cause in that short 12 round, we often saw him take long breaths before serving, especially on crucial points. He missed several of them, including in the tiebreak of the third set, which he easily took the lead.
Then there were those double faults – eight in all – including the one that finally showed him the way out when he had a match point against him.
“Even though he hasn’t had that knee problem since Miami haven’t won much and not played on grass, he’s going through a normal process of first winning games back, then seconds to regain confidence,” he tells Fontang.
“But at least, he adds, we’ll have that period of training and play the rest of the season on the same surface, hard ground.”
The desire to always go further
On Monday, Felix, visibly dejected after his defeat, said he was going through “a difficult time in his young career” but was “convinced the results will come back”.
Frédéric Fontang agrees with the results: “Félix remains in a good state of mind. It’s part of the process of being a top athlete. He has the desire to keep getting better, and at some point it will have an effect.