Félix Auger-Aliassime: “If I'm so good at indoors, it's perhaps because I come from a country where it's minus 20 degrees half the year”

Auger-Aliassime a été très costaud, dimanche en finale. Midi Libre – JEAN-MICHEL MART

Winner of his sixth indoor title, the seventh in his entire career, Félix Auger-Aliassime explained the reasons for such strength during the press conference, after his success in the final of the Open Occitanie against Aleksandar Kovacevic (6-2, 7-6 [7], 7-6 [2]), Sunday February 2.

This match was a bit of a roller coaster… What can you tell us about it? ?

This sport is crazy sometimes… And it was proven again tonight. I had a dream start to the match for a final with a 6-2 in my favor, two breaks, I feel above. Despite everything, I know what he is capable of, so I am wary. But I have no regrets afterwards, since he served very well, I couldn't find a solution, I tried things. I was thinking at one point that he was playing so well, drop shots, long line backhands, the variation he was putting in, without making any mistakes.

Read also: Open Occitanie: Félix Auger-Aliassime wins after a magnificent final against Aleksandar Kovacevic

At one point, it almost went to a tie-break. That's how it is. As a player, you tell yourself that it's a challenge, that's the challenge. Mentally, you try to tell yourself that if he does this the whole match, maybe he'll be the winner. And I could say bravo, because I have nothing to reproach myself for. I think that was the case for both players today, but unfortunately in this sport there is only one winner. Today I am glad it was me.

You are the player who has won the most indoor matches since 2022, how do you explain that ?

If I'm so strong, it's perhaps because I come from a country where it's minus 20 degrees half the year (laughs). That's a hypothesis, but it's true that I grew up playing indoors half the year. It's funny, because at the beginning of my career, we made choices to play more on clay because that's where I made my first finals, on clay in Rio, then in Lyon. That's where I won my first title. And then in 2022 I won three tournaments in a row indoors. I serve well because the conditions are stable, I manage to have the same benchmarks from day to day, build something over the course of the week. But I've also had success on other surfaces, but not to the point of winning tournaments. I hope that will come to other surfaces too. But until that happens, I will continue to try to win indoors too.

You worked on the mental aspect during the pre-season, can you tell us more about it and could you have lost this final without that work? ?

Maybe, yes, definitely. I have never had any major behavioral lapses in my career. But the inner speech was not always very positive. I could be affected by a certain level of frustration. I try to continue to learn that sometimes you can't control all the elements. I try to refocus on what I do well, refocus on my breathing, it's the first thing I can control before controlling the ball. I try to focus on simple things, which are under my control.

It is true that today, compared to last year, I had a similar situation to last year at Wimbledon. I was very frustrated to have lost a tie-break, where I had match point. I had a bad start to the set after, the whole momentum of the match changes. I lose the match when I was better at the beginning. I try not to repeat the same mistake in a match like today. That's what they say, we try to learn from our mistakes.