Hélène Pelletier: Félix was so close to the goal against Medvedev… (Tennis Chronicle)

SPECIAL COLLABORATION

What an anthology match Félix Auger-Aliassime gave us last night against the favorite of the tournament and 2nd in the world Daniil Medvedev!

Yes, it hurts to lose a huge 4 hour 42 minute fight after having match point… But at the same time, there are so many positives to take away that this is what I would like to dissect his performance during the fortnight.

First, the level of play of our Quebecer in the quarter-finals is absolutely mind-blowing! He is so clear-headed to make the right choices and this is possible because he literally flies on the pitch. His accelerations in the rally are penetrating, his moves to the net are fair and efficient in addition to setting the tone in the serve and forehand. If FAA could have seen how frustrated and helpless the Russian is after the first two sets, I’m sure he would have been more authoritative in the last three sets on his eight unconverted break points (2 in 11 overall in the match).

In addition, if Daniil does not deliver a huge serve to save the match point in the 4th set, Felix may go for the victory, but in fact, it should also be noted that it is in this aspect that the Russian knows to slice. He excels in huge moments, those that make the difference between victory and defeat. Full stop!

However, I like the new attitude of our kid this year when he formally made the decision not to take the lead after a big big game lost. With his team, we focus above all on making a methodical and meticulous analysis of the good efforts, improvements in the physical and tactical aspects and of course, the points to be improved.

For my part, I loved seeing him get into the net against the world No. 2, who is with Novak Djokovic the best in the world in the back of the field. Admit that it takes guts to do it, but you can’t outsmart these two monsters by playing their game. Felix challenges Medvedev 48 times on the fly, and he wins 41 points for 85% success! It’s an incredible statistic that will give him confidence for the rest of his career.

Now let me come back down to earth for a moment. Above all, what it will take for Felix to win a Grand Slam – and I’m sure he will one day – is that he add this kind of aggression in the first week to avoid drawing and exhausting himself during hours. The talented and tough Emil Ruusuvuori and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina who are such well-tuned one-dimensional machines have proven that they are capable of brilliantly challenging our Quebecois in the exchange. As the numbers speak loudly, Félix shows up with his nose at the net 66 times in 13 hours 27 minutes of play in his first four games

s, which is not enough. We must develop this tactic so that it becomes a well-established and safe reference to first shorten the meetings in the first week and also to get used to the rigors of the forward sprints against the big elite.

Despite everything, Félix advances, step by step as he grows up despite the rigors and difficulties inherent in his profession. Taming fears, placing them under his feet and instead making the beliefs of an extraordinary destiny grow, this is difficult, it’s obvious, but the path is already marked out for him. He will get there, I am even more convinced of it after this quarter-final match.

Shapo got distracted too easily

Denis Shapovalov also has everything he needs to win the biggest trophies, but without a shadow of a doubt he will still need to work on his attitude and behavior on the pitch. Very early in the quarters in front of legend Rafael Nadal, he showed all his frustration with referee Carlos Bernardes because he was convinced that Rafa was getting preferential treatment on certain overtimes. Well, it’s true that the Spaniard is often borderline, but that’s nothing new and I can’t believe Denis didn’t prepare for this before the game.

It’s a shame because he hangs on like a starved to death to bring us to the 5th set. His mental instability does not help him to take advantage of his chances of breaking at the start of the ultimate set. He will have to understand that you cannot treat the referee as corrupt in front of all the cameras in the world at the start of the match and imagine that things will go well during a disputed decision of a meeting that lasts over 4 hours.

It saddens me to talk about this because since the beginning of the year his attitude has been great at the ATP Cup and in his first four games in Melbourne. Tennistically he is incredible against Kwon, Opelka and the 3rd in the world Zverev.

Will Jamie Delgado, who endured Andy Murray’s mood swings for 6 years, be able to put him back on the right track? I hope so, because it would be sad if he didn’t reach his full potential…