Former British No. 1 Tim Henman praised Felix Auger-Aliassime for showing a great level of competitive spirit in his French Open first round match and grinding out a hard-fought win. Ninth-seeded Auger-Aliassime made a slow start to his Roland Garros opener but recovered from two sets down to beat qualifier Juan Pablo Varillas 2-6 2-6 6-1 6-3 6-3.
Auger-Aliassime entered the match as the big favorite but he was probably thinking about the fact that he was 0-2 in his previous two French Open campaigns. “It’s a great effort. Because, you know, Auger-Aliasime comes into the match as the clear favourite but then loses the first two sets 6-2 6-2 against a qualifier ranked 125 in the world so it would have been very easy for him to panic at that stage,” Henman told Eurosport, per Tennis Up To Dare.
Henman: Auger-Aliassime didn’t panic
Auger-Aliassime won a total of four games in the first two sets and it wasn’t looking good at all for him. Fortunately for Auger-Aliassime, he was able to work his way back into the match and escape a shock defeat.
“I think there are some times when people have questioned his competitive spirit, you know when things are not going well, but I think he showed a lot of maturity, he didn’t panic. Then he slowly started to turn the match around so, from a really bad situation, Auger-Aliassime can take some confidence in coming through that match,” Henman said.
Auger-Aliassime has proved capable of making deep runs at the Grand Slam level. Auger-Aliassime reached the semifinal at the 2021 US Open, while he was a quarterfinalist at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. “I look at his game and you look at his athletic ability; he has all the pieces of the puzzle and he’s so powerful.
He moves so well, he came forward and played some beautiful drop volleys at times, but for me, it’s dealing with the adversity. When things are going great, he can beat anyone, but it’s when he’s not quite on his game that he struggles.
It’s a good example of him learning his trade and showing a little bit of experience when it wasn’t going well,” Henman added.
