Felix Auger- Aliassime has won his first ATP title by beating Stefanos Tsitsipas (6-4, 6-2) in the Rotterdam final. The Canadian has been working for almost a year under the advice of Toni Nadal and its effect is already noticeable. Settled among the top ten in the ranking, the player has managed to get rid of a huge slab after losing eight finals before taking his first title on the professional circuit to the showcase. On the contrary, the Greek is still at odds with the ATP 500 and has already accumulated eight lost finals in tournaments in that category.
In 2017, Toni Nadal decided to stop being Rafa Nadal’s coach after a lifetime and 75 titles won, to focus on his work as director of the Manacor academy, where future stars are trained. But last year, the Mallorcan surprised everyone by announcing his return to the circuit to join the team of Felix Auger – Aliassime, a young Canadian tennis player who had already been standing out for his quality. The objective was to make the player much more competitive, help him take a leap on the mental plane and share his advice during the clay tour, although he has also accompanied him in person at other tournaments such as the US Open.
Toni Nadal accepted his new role to guide a player who was already among the top 20 and who had played several finals, without being able to put the icing on the title. Since the entry of the Spaniard in the Canadian team, the evolution of the player has been very noticeable: at present he is already settled among the top ten, he is a mentally stronger player and has broken his ceiling in several Grand Slams: quarterfinals at Wimbledon, semis at the US Open or the quarterfinals at the last Australian Open, where he had Daniil Medvedev on the ropes, who finally prevailed in the fifth set.
“Congratulations on your first ATP title in Rotterdam today! Great tournament, great match and great victory! It is a pleasure to collaborate with your fantastic team and with you! Such spirit, such a will to improve and such incredible tennis make me believe that this is the first of many to come!” Toni Nadal told the Canadian to congratulate him on his title in the Netherlands.
The Christmas method
Felix Auger- Aliassime already has his first title in the showcase and has ended that bad streak of eight finals with defeat. The 21-year-old Canadian has made a huge leap in his confidence, an aspect that has worked especially well with Toni Nadal. “We have talked a lot and we work well together on the pitch. Thanks to that I have been able to learn a lot from him, clearly see what I can improve. Having him on my team is a source of motivation and, above all, it has given me enormous self-confidence, it has made me believe that I can achieve great things,” Auger-Aliassime explained in an interview last December.
His usual coach, Frederic Fontang, also explained the reason why they sought to work with the Spaniard. «The objective for which we added Toni Nadal to the team was to have a more solid, more consistent game. He is someone who has already had great results with his nephew, and we try to absorb all of his experience. The results weren’t there at first, but we can’t jump to conclusions. He gave us directions for development and, thanks to the ‘Nadal method’, allowed me to confirm my methodology and add different variants to it,” Fontang explained late last year.
The Canadian already has twelve games with victory in this 2022, being the tennis player who has won the most games this year. In addition, his title in Rotterdam places him in third place in the ATP race, only behind Rafa Nadal and Daniil Medvedev.
Follow the losing streak of Tsitsipas
The Rotterdam final between Felix Auger- Aliassime and Stefanos Tsitsipas had a high emotional component, as both players arrived at the decisive match with the mission of fighting their own ghosts. The Canadian arrived with full defeats in his eight finals played on the circuit, while the Greek had also not been able to win the title in any of the previous seven finals played in 500 category tournaments. It was Toni Nadal’s pupil who managed end the losing streak after a match of one hour and 19 minutes with a final result of 6-4 and 6-2.
Tsitsipas still hasn’t been able to tie the knot to any 500 category title, since he reached his first final in Barcelona in 2018, where he fell to Nadal and repeated in 2021 with the same outcome. Dubai (twice), Beijing, Hamburg, Acapulco and now also Rotterdam complete the curse of the Greek in the tournament finals of that category.
