MELBOURNE, Australia | After hugging Jiri Lehecka at the net, greeting and the referee, then putting away his racquets, Félix Auger-Aliassiame left the Margaret Court Arena giving a thumbs up to the cheering crowd.
• Read also: It’s over for Félix Auger-Aliassime in Melbourne
• Read also: Australian internationals: when Felix gets angry
• Read also: Australian Open: Denis Shapovalov’s broken heart
The Quebecer had his face closed. These four games in Melbourne did not go as the strongman of the last weeks of 2022 wanted.
But if he says he remains “unsatisfied”, disappointed not to have “expressed his game as best he could”, “FAA” said he quickly moved on once back in the locker room, after this loss of 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2) and 7-6 (3) against the 71st in the world, Sunday in the round of 16.
“After the match, I digest my emotions a bit. I try to stay calm. And afterwards, in all honesty, I think about what is coming for me, ”he explained to the journalists who came to meet him.
Indeed, Félix seemed to have digested his emotions well when he appeared in front of members of the media, about an hour after his elimination.
Once his post-mortem was over, he even thanked the journalists for their presence and wished them “welcome back”, in all the class that made his good reputation on the circuit.
“What’s done is done,” he conceded calmly. I think about how I will occupy my next weeks before the Rotterdam tournament. »
The defending champion
In Rotterdam, in mid-February, Felix will be the defending champion. This is where he opened his ATP record last year, putting an end to a jinx of nine consecutive losses in the final.
Auger-Aliassime ended the year with four individual trophies, in addition to triumphs at the ATP Cup, Laver Cup and Davis Cup.
His superb sequence had marked the spirits: three titles in a row in October, in Florence, Antwerp and Basel. Félix’s series of 16 winning matches ended at the Paris Masters, against the young Dane Holger Rune, who is still present at these Australian Open.
No time for pressure
But if “FAA” said, before the Australian Open, prefer to see this start of the year as an extension of 2022, he said on Sunday that he did not show up in Melbourne with the pressure of having to continue his good momentum.
In fact, the 22-year-old didn’t even have time to think about it. He has spent the last few days, and especially the last meetings, in solution mode.
“No, I didn’t feel that I had any pressure. I felt good before the game [de quatrième tour contre Lehecka]. The last two games, I started them well. »
“But I had difficulties in each of my meetings, so I didn’t really have time to think beyond the game I was playing. I was just trying to find a way to win, to raise my level. »