He turns 19 on Thursday, August 8, and he is already ranked 21st in the world.
Félix Auger-Aliassime is one of Canada’s top rising tennis stars. He broke the top 800 in the world four years ago.
In 2017 he was ranked 222. He’s now at a career high and the phenom has also earned more than $1 million U.S. on the tour.
“I think he’s an up and coming talent — I think in the next five or six years he should be number one. That’s what we’re hoping,” tennis fan Joanne Harvey told Global News at the Rogers Cup while watching Auger-Aliassime practice.
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The star player already has two wins this year against top ten players.
His appearance in the tournament is one of several factors that could help organizers break an all time attendance record for a one week ATP event for men.
“People are looking forward to seeing him raise even more. It puts a lot of pressure on him, but I think it’s good” the director of the Rogers Cup Eugène Lapierre told Global News.
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A couple of other Canadian players are also burning up the rankings.
Top-ranked Canadian Milos Raonic is ranked 19th in the world and 20-year-old Denis Shapovalov is 32nd.
The rising Canadian talent is creating a lot of attention on the tour.
“To have this many Canadians of this calibre doing their thing so well, that’s pretty impressive,” David Jones, a Montreal tennis fan, told Global News at the Rogers Cup.
Number two in the world and top seed Rafa Nadal is also competing and is always a fan favourite.
“He’s a great player, very charismatic,” Brandy Porter from Atlanta told Global News as she watched Nadal practice. “Very sweet, very charitable. Overall great guy,” she said.
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Despite Félix’s success, his first tournament win still eludes him. Fans, however, say that it is just a matter of time before he wins an ATP tournament.
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