	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL

January 13, 2020

Felix Auger-Aliassime

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What is it like to be in Adelaide?
FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: It's good. Never been before. Always cool to experience a new place, a new city. Start of my career, so I'm getting to know new places, new cities. This is one of them.

It's nice to see the people are happy to see me here. They're looking forward to see me play, see me perform. Overall I feel positive energy, yeah.

Q. What is it like turning up at a tournament as the second seed?
FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: Yeah, it's different pressure. I think I've dealt with it maybe a few times last year where I was seeded, some 250 events. I mean, hopefully, fingers crossed, it's going to be like this most of the time in the future.

But in a way you think, Okay, I have my chances of going deep. At the same time you're the rabbit, the player that everyone wants to beat. It's a different approach. It's a bit more pressure. At the same time it's a good one.

Q. Can you give us a flavor of your off-season, where you were, what you were working on?
FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: So I spent the last, I mean, month and a half in Monaco after the ankle injury that took me out of Vienna, Paris and NextGen. I was able to be in Davis Cup play. That was a good week for me to test my ankle, see where I am at, also to play good tennis.

Then the training was good. I was feeling good physically as the weeks were going. Just working on everything, nothing in particular. My serve, obviously it's a big weapon, serve and forehand. If I can secure that, keep improving that, it's for sure going to bring me places.

There's things I needed to adjust and improve on my serve, for example, my second serve. I think it was good to have the time to do that, to have the time to work on these things.

Now I'm feeling fresh mentally, which is also good. Yeah, we'll see where that leads me.

Q. You were ranked outside the top 100 this time last year. What are you most proud of on that year journey?
FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: It's funny because it's a year but it feels like almost two because it was really, like, I would say three-quarters of the year was unbelievable, really good. I kind of hit a tougher period after US Open, during that time. So I feel like I just had a chance to experience a lot of things in that year.

Unbelievable performances, new milestones, a lot of great things. Also tougher times where, like, I had to recenter myself, see how I want to play, how I want to compete.

But overall it was a really good learning experience, really good learning year, with also a lot of positives with the match wins and the improvements in my ranking.

I'm obviously happy where I'm at, but I also feel inside of me where, like, even I could be 100 or 200 or 20, 10. I still feel the same. I still feel like I want to improve. I'm not satisfied of where I'm at, yeah.

Q. It was three finals last year. What would it mean to you to take the trophy here in Adelaide?
FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: I mean, that would be great. It's tough to think of that already. It's only the start of the year. I played a few matches in ATP Cup. Didn't go my way.

We'll see match by match here. It would be great just because it would kind of be a big relief to start the year, obviously to get my first title under my belt, just to feel, like, okay. That's something I want to do this year. If that could be done this week, it would be just be the perfect scenario.

I don't want to put too much pressure on myself with results now. It's not the time. I just want to feel like I'm playing good tennis leading into the Australian Open.

Q. What do you make of your draw, Duckworth or Delbonis?
FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: I actually played Duckworth, quallies of Toronto's Masters 2016. I was much younger. I think first match on the ATP Tour. Outside of that, I don't really know the two players much. I know Duckworth had some injuries, came back. He's coming back in the rankings, playing more and more.

Delbonis is obviously an experienced veteran. I think he has a lot of tennis in him. Tough opener, like every other match. I'm not quite sure what to expect. We'll see.

Q. How was your cooking yesterday?
FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: It was fun. I mean, I did that in Vienna also at the end of last year. I think over the years I'm going to become better in cooking with the classes I take on the tour.

Q. Did you try any of it?
FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: I tried one piece. Crocodile, first time I ever tried it. The spices was good. I think I did well. It was fun.

I like to do it. I like cooking. It was fun to experience that, yeah.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297