ATP Tour

Auger-Aliassime on Djokovic defeat: 'I had a lot of belief until the end'

Felix Auger-Aliassime was naturally disappointed to not advance to the Wimbledon semi-finals Tuesday evening, but the third seed was proud of his effort against 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic.

“Amazing fight, amazing battle with a legend of our sport. It is what it is,” Auger-Aliassime, who lost in a final-set tie-break, said. “Obviously it's tough for me. Quarters in Paris, here. I had other chances in my career where tight matches like this didn't go my way. I'll have to see what I can do so it goes my way the next time. For now, I can be proud of the fight and then I move on, move on to what's next.”

Djokovic led by two sets to one and a break in the fourth set, playing tennis reminiscent of the level with which he has won the tournament seven times. But Auger-Aliassime, who was trying to make the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time, battled hard under the Centre Court roof to push the Serbian to the limit.

“I had a lot of belief. I don't think belief was a problem. I think after one set all, it was just this one game in the third set, I lost focus. After more than two-and-a-half hours of being very focused with him, I lost a little bit my focus,” Auger-Aliassime said. “Fourth set I was fortunate to come back. He also had lost focus, a dip, to give me a chance to come back in the fourth set. Then I thought I played good, good tie-break.

“But yeah, I think in the end he proves again that he's good when he needs to. He's solid, more solid than I was, when he needs to.”

Auger-Aliassime saved the three break points he faced in the fifth chance and entered the 10-point tie-break with a chance to claim one of the biggest wins of his career. But Djokovic proved too solid, surging to a 10/4 victory to seal his triumph.

“You just feel like in tie-breaks or tight moments, either he serves well or he makes you play the extra shot. Just keeps you in a position where you can't attack him, but he neutralises you until he waits for a mistake,” Auger-Aliassime said. “So yeah, his game style, it's not my natural game style. I'm more trying to play forward. But I'll have to learn how to manage that, when to go forward, when to be a bit more solid in a way.”

The Canadian put himself in a winning position against the 101-time tour-level titlist and played with confidence until the end. After the longest quarter-final in tournament history, which lasted five hours and 15 minutes, he simply was unable to land the final blows.

“To be honest, I had a lot of belief until the end. I was trying to serve well, trying to not go for too much, trying to play the smartest shot at every moment,” Auger-Aliassime said. “Obviously sometimes one of the players is going to have to risk at some point a little bit more at certain points. But it didn't pay off for me.”