PARIS – Three years after losing in the first round in both singles and doubles at the Tokyo Olympics, Felix Auger-Aliassime had a completely different experience in Paris.
He may have lost his bronze-medal match to Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti in men’s singles Saturday, but the 23-year-old from Montreal was smiling about an hour later.
After all, Auger-Aliassime delivered Canada’s second-ever Olympic tennis medal with a mixed doubles bronze Friday alongside Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski.
“If I look back at three years ago, it was totally different,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I lost my first two matches, came back home with just the experience of the (Olympic) Village. It was like, ‘How was it? Oh, Village was great but the tennis wasn’t great after all.’
“But now I feel like OK, I was at the Olympics, I won some matches, I won a medal.”
Competing in men’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles, Auger-Aliassime gave a herculean effort at the Paris Games. He played 11 matches in seven days, spending 18 hours 22 minutes on the clay courts of Roland Garros.
He suffered leg cramps in the mixed doubles semifinals and said mental fatigue eventually caught up with him at the end of the tournament.
Musetti, the 11th seed, defeated the 13th-seeded Auger-Aliassime in a long final duel lasting two hours 15 minutes. The Italian won 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 to claim the bronze.
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“A bit (tired) physically, a bit mentally. The decision-making, maybe being more sharp at certain times, maybe coming in a bit more to the net, trying to shorten the rallies a bit more,” Auger-Aliassime said. “That wasn’t great, but credit to him. He’s been playing well.”
A semifinalist at Wimbledon last month, Musetti defeated reigning Olympic champion Alexander Zverev of Germany in the quarterfinals in Paris. Novak Djokovic of Serbia then halted his run in the semifinals.
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As for Auger-Aliassime, he knocked out No. 4 seed Daniil Medvedev and No. 6 Casper Ruud of Norway before losing in the semis to second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz of Spain.
“It was a unique week — 11 matches in one week. I served so much my shoulder is a little bit tight,” Auger-Aliassime said. “The good thing is to know that my body still held up pretty well. There’s mental fatigue a little bit, you can feel it sometimes. I can feel that I’m not totally myself at the end of this week.
“Still, my body held up … I think it’s a good thing looking to the future — there are going to be other tough challenges in my career and (I know) that I have the resources to fight on.”
Alcaraz was scheduled to meet top seed Djokovic in Sunday’s final.
Auger-Aliassime started the match poorly on Saturday, offering five break points to his opponent in the first game. Musetti converted the fifth when the Canadian missed a backhand.
Auger-Aliassime got the break back to tie the first set at 4-4, but Musetti immediately responded.
The Italian had triple break point in the ninth game before finally converting to go up 5-4, then won the set on serve.
It was Auger-Aliassime who enjoyed the quick start in the second set, going up 2-0 with an early break, fending off break point and winning the third game with an ace.
He then scored his second break of the set to go up 5-1 before clinching it on serve.
Auger-Aliassime saved two break points in the fourth game of the final set, the second with an ace. However, he was broken in the eighth game, sending Musetti to serve for the match at 5-3.
The match ended when Musetti took advantage of a short return from Auger-Aliassime and placed a drop shot in the open court.
“The last break of serve the legs gave up a little bit,” Auger-Aliassime said. “We had some tough rallies in the third set. We raised our intensity, we raised our level. I had a bad start to the match, recovered well in the second set, played some great tennis but it was very tight, very even until the break of serve at the end.”
Auger-Aliassime will return to Montreal on Sunday to prepare for the National Bank Open, where a hero’s welcome awaits.
“The Olympic Games reach not only tennis fans, but everyone,” he said. “I’m not aware of the impact (his bronze medal) can have on my career or my fame. It’s not that I attach much importance to it, but I’m curious to see the impact I’ve had on people and the emotions I made them feel during the Olympic Games.”
He’ll play doubles Tuesday to re-familiarize himself with the hard court before competing in his first singles match Wednesday.
In the meantime, he’s earned a little rest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 3, 2024.
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