THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 29, 2026

Felix Auger-Aliassime

Press Conference

F. AUGER-ALIASSIME/A. Shevchenko

6-3, 6-1, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Great win. When you go into a Grand Slam, especially coming into Wimbledon, do you find that you need to find a way to disconnect in the day in between matches? If so, do you have any rituals that specifically help you to do that?

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: Yeah, so, I mean, one thing I have put in place for, I don't know, I can't remember now, quite some years is just staying off social media. You know, as simple as that. Staying off what's said about yourself, what's said about others. There is a lot of noise out there.

And I do enjoy that part as well the rest of the year, and I enjoy that people give interest to our sport and talk about it, but I stay away from that. I like to watch sports. We have the World Cup going on right now, so you can watch sport but not yours.

On off days I also watch a lot of tennis. I love watching. Obviously it's a different side of the draw, so you get to see other players you're not going to face until the final.

So it's nice. Sometimes you watch fellow Canadians, friends, or other players you like watching. I disconnect but also stay connected to watching the game, and I find it very interesting.

Q. Do you look at them on the other side of the draw and say maybe they could reach the final or playing at a level if I meet them later on, if I reach the final of this tournament, it's going to absolutely hurt me?

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: I do sometimes (smiling) with my team or other players in the locker room. We kind of look at the draw and we think, Oh, this guy is playing really good. I'm calling quarters for this guy or semis for this guy.

I haven't now dissected the whole draw so I can't even tell you what my bet would be for the other side of the draw. But a lot of quality obviously everywhere in the draw, a lot of hungry players that are trying to make their mark in this Grand Slam.

Q. How much have you been following the World Cup? Crazy?

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: It's crazy. I have been following it a lot. I love football. Obviously watching these big competitions, so much on the line, so much excitement.

For us, in Canada, it's really historic. It's a beautiful thing, because growing up, I had to find a team to support, like, it was a shame that you didn't have, like, your home country to support.

So now it's different. We actually have a solid team coming up. We'll see how the next round goes. Yesterday I was quite excited with the win.

Q. Do you support a club?

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: I would say if I had to pick, it would be Barcelona, because I took a trip with my family when I was 9 or 10 to Barcelona, and that's kind of the time I discovered European football. And it was the era of Guardiola in Barcelona where they were, you know, dominating.

So that's, like, the first time I was, I discovered, you know, football in Europe. Before I was watching hockey back home (smiling).

Q. I wanted to ask, I'm sure people have asked you about this, but after the French Open, you were obviously very upset. You said, I'm not the player I want to be. How did you kind of digest that after that? Was there anything in your mind to make kind of a big decision immediately after that, or how did you process that and move forward?

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: The thing is we're obviously very busy as players, there's a lot of tennis to play. So I'll have a bit more time I think after this tournament before the next one, or at least before the next Grand Slam.

But when you have just a month or not even apart from two Grand Slams, it's not time to take any decisions. You really just have to reset.

Obviously, it was not an emotional statement that I made. I think it was realistic of the circumstances. And I do want to be a better player than I am today.

That being said, I had to go back to competition. I had signed for a tournament the week after Roland Garros, and I just went back on the court and just tried to prepare for this one.

Q. How do you feel about your match today? How do you feel you played today?

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: Good. I feel good. Never easy to start a Grand Slam. There's nerves. We are playing, like, Wimbledon. We don't get to practice on all the courts. So, you know, Court 2, a court I have played before. I have had good moments, tough moments there.

So you're not sure how you are going to feel about the court, how your opponent is going to play. I really just took care of what's in my control really well. My serve didn't get broken, didn't give him a lot of chances. And I felt the rest of my game, sometimes it's tricky, was at a high level. Very pleased with how I played.