ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL

December 31, 2022

Felix Auger-Aliassime

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Felix, talk about coming back to Adelaide.

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: Great, second time here. I loved my first time coming here. It's always nice to start the year in Australia. Always good memories for me. I'm looking forward to start the week.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. (No microphone.)

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: Yes.

Q. It was really cold from what I remember.

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: It was kind of cold.

Q. A whole new Adelaide for you this time.

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: As we could see, last few days it's hot and cold a little bit. Temperature changes a lot. We have to adapt as players.

I remember that match very well. I remember feeling good. Actually, I didn't play well in the Australian Open that year. Coming back after, I made two finals in a row in Europe. I felt like I was playing well.

I love the conditions here. I think it was the right choice to come here again just because of how good I felt. Like you said, that match was very high quality with an in-form Rublev. Hopefully I can play good again here.

Q. Novak said Thursday it's not like a 250 tournament, more like a 500 or 1000 tournament. Would you agree with that?

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: Yeah, very strong field for this year. I mean, it's amazing. It's great for the crowd. It's going to be great for the fans that are going to come around this week. They're just going to have quality matches from the first days. I think that's what you want to have in a tennis tournament.

For us as players, I think it's the best preparation. You want to be tested from the first matches you play. Also before the Australian Open starts, you kind of want to play the best players, be tested, and see where your game is at.

For me it's actually good news, yeah.

Q. How important is momentum to a player?

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: For sure, I mean, when you have it, you try to ride that wave as long as it lasts or at least you try to see what's working and you try to kind of, yeah, keep going with what's working as much as you can.

I feel like momentum plays a huge role on your confidence. For me, it's been great in the last few months. I don't like to see it like it's -- I like to understand why it's happening, right? I try to recreate it, not just like think it's some sort of stars aligned or some type of luck that you're just trying to ride a wave on.

I think there's reasons behind success. I feel like it's about understanding why you're succeeding constantly and trying to do it again.

Q. You analyze your game?

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: Continually. With wins and losses, all the time I try to see what's working, what's not. Then I try to improve and improve and improve.

But things have been working really well, of course, in the last few months for me. So hopefully that keeps going. But I'm confident with the way I've been training, with the way I've prepared. My body's feeling good. My mind also. I'm confident that I can keep on playing some good tennis.

Q. Did you set targets?

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: The same target every time: to play well, improve from the player I was the year before. I mean, it's not like I had that long of a break, so I just feel like I didn't have time to work on so many things. I just tried to prepare my body, be fresh when the new year would start.

I feel good at this point. I hope that, let's say, a year ago we started in ATP Cup, I was playing good tennis. I hope I'm a better player now than I was a year ago. At least I feel like it.

It's going to be the same thing coming, trying to be a little bit better. The goals, of course, are winning the biggest tournaments that there is, at this point in my career, my ranking. I'm trying to win the biggest titles.

Q. How does it benefit you to practice with a young, promising junior like Hugh? What do you get out of it?

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: Well, it's practice. I mean, you're working on things. I was focusing on what I need to work on before the start of the tournament.

For me really, I mean, it's nice to also play with good, young players. They're motivated. They try also to give their best, to give a good practice.

It doesn't really matter for me who's in front. At the end of the day I'm trying to improve on certain things and I'm trying to work on things. Even if it's a couple days before the tournament or even if it's weeks away from the tournament, I'm still trying to improve aspects of my game.

But it was a good practice, yeah.

Q. Six years ago when you were 16, what would you have appreciated playing against a top-10 player?

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: For sure I would have. I still have very good memories from those times. They're fresh in my mind. I was in juniors practicing with, yeah, professional players, really high-ranked players when I was in junior tournaments or I had a chance when I was at a tournament in Montreal to be a hitting partner when I was already I think 14 or 15. I have really good memories from those times.

I remember also being quite nervous. You want to play well. You don't want to miss. I think I also have like an understanding and empathy for a guy like Hugh or others. If the practice gets intense or they feel a bit nervous, I tell them that it's all good, it's okay. There's no need to be stressed out or worry.

I know how it feels. I was 16 myself not that long ago. I clearly know how it feels.

Q. Can we talk briefly about the Davis Cup. What boost to your confidence has that been?

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: It was a beautiful moment for myself, the whole team, the country. Yeah, for me personally, for my career, just to be in that position where you need to in a given situation, in the final of this magnitude, you need to play well, you need to show up and try to win for your country. It's a moment that is very high pressure, to play well in those moments and to win, it gives any player a lot of confidence.

Of course, it's not the first time. I've been in similar situations. But to be able to do it again and to win the last match for the team, it was a special moment. Of course, it brought me a lot of -- I mean, it was a very proud moment and it brought me a lot of confidence.

Q. What about the public recognition in Canada?

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: I mean, a little bit more, it hasn't been like exponential because of that tournament specifically. I feel like people have just heard more and more about tennis, and hopefully we see an impact with, I don't know, young players going into tennis clubs or participating in tennis classes or events, following the sport in general, following the players.

But my growth and popularity, it's not like it's gone through the roof after that moment. I feel like it's been pretty steady just over the last couple of years.

Q. Maybe if you win Melbourne, it will...

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: Certainly.