ROLEX MONTE-CARLO MASTERS

April 13, 2022

Felix Auger-Aliassime

Press Conference

L. MUSETTI/F. Auger-Aliassime

6-2, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Was it difficult to play on clay, the wind and everything else? And also the crowd that of course was for the Italian player, how difficult it was? And the score, the final score was influenced by all these factors?

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: Yeah, I think overall, Lorenzo played better than me today, plain and simple. I need to play better in order to win matches like this.

Of course, yeah, he had the support of the crowd, but, yeah, it was a good atmosphere. There was no worries from me about that. I just needed to play better.

I thought after, losing the first set, I thought it was a shame that I couldn't, you know, hold my break, because I had a good start in the second set. Then, you know, if I win the second set, let's see what happens.

But losing that game, and then after, just missing a few things in my game, I have to figure it out, for sure.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. What didn't work today? Maybe you were not adapted or adjusted to clay yet?

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: I made technical mistakes, where I was placing the ball or how I was moving on the court. But it's tough. I just am out of the match now, and it's difficult to analyze everything I could have done better.

But I should do better. Given my ambitions and what I want to achieve in the tournaments, I have to do better than today.

But all the credit goes to Lorenzo. He played very well in the first set. He didn't give away anything. I gave him things though. In the second set he was brilliant on certain shots. That made a difference in the end of the match, so congratulations to him.

Q. You had a very good beginning of this season. Now it's not so good. Is it difficult to maintain a very high level in tennis?

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: Yes, what we do is difficult. It's difficult to maintain what I have been doing in the beginning of the year. Only a few players are able to do that.

I will try to be part of those players in the future, but I still need to improve on many things. I will try to become a better tennis player first, and we'll see.

Those moments where it doesn't go so well are always difficult. It's difficult to lose first round and having to practice again. This is the most difficult part of our sport. We lose very often. It's complicated.

Q. You talked about your ambitions. I would like to know what they are. And also, tennis is in an interesting phase right now. Now it's much more open. There are many young players emerging. Some go away; others are emerging. According to you, who will dominate tennis in the following years? What will be decisive?

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: Well, there is about 20 players who already won big titles. Only Daniil won a Grand Slam, but many other players won big titles, and I believe there will be maybe 8 or 10 players that will be able to win big tournaments a bit more than before.

We'll see what happens. Everybody plays well today. On a given match, anybody can win. But over the years, some players will stand out. This will depend on their capacity to be consistent over the years and to be resilient.

Sometimes there are difficult moments; other times it goes better. So those who will be able to bounce back will be the best ones.

Q. Along the same line, Nadal and Federer are not in this tournament, and Novak either. So here in Monte-Carlo, we are having a tournament that might be exactly like future tournaments will be. You, the young players, are you ready to take over this inheritance? The question is that you are the ones who are still here in the tournament.

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: I'm only 21 years old, and no, I'm not ready to assume the position of Nadal or Djokovic yet, clearly. I hope in the future that I will be able to become a player who has an important place on the tour.

What I think is that the fans, the public likes tennis. Today they were cheering for Lorenzo. It's almost full here, so they will still come.

It's special when the older players are in the end of their career, but new players are coming up. We won't have maybe only three players dominating all the others. We will have more players at the top.