August 10, 2022 Pascal Ratthe/Tennis Canada Felix Auger-Aliassime
For the first time in his career, Félix Auger-Aliassime is heading to the ATP Finals.
The Canadian clinched his spot in the eight-man field after American Taylor Fritz was defeated by Gilles Simon on Wednesday at the Paris Masters. With Fritz’s loss, Auger-Aliassime can finish no lower than seventh in the Race to Turin, which is enough too qualify.
Auger-Aliassime will be the first Canadian man to qualify for the year-end championships since Milos Raonic in 2016. He joins Raonic as the only Canadian men to qualify for the singles competition at the ATP Finals.
One spot remains up for grabs in Turin. Andrey Rublev will claim the final spot if he reaches the semifinals or if Hubert Hurkacz does not win the title. The Pole must win the title in order to qualify.
The field in at the ATP Finals includes Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Daniil Medvedev, Novak Djokovic and now Auger-Aliassime.
2022 has been a career year for the Canadian No. 1.
To start the season, Auger-Aliassime led Canada to victory at the ATP Cup, a win which allowed him to re-enter the Top 10 in the ATP rankings, where he spent all but five weeks in 2022.
In February, he won his first career title at the ABN Amro Rotterdam, defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final. A red-hot October saw Auger-Aliassime win three titles in three weeks, claiming trophies in Florence, Antwerp and Basel while compiling a 14-match winning streak.
At the Grand Slams, he reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, losing in five sets to Daniil Medvedev, and the fourth round of Roland-Garros. At the latter, he became just the third man to take Rafael Nadal, the eventual champion, to five sets at the French Open.
Success on indoor hard courts have been critical to Auger-Aliassime’s success in 2022. He leads the ATP Tour in match wins (25) and titles (four) on the surface. All of his titles have come indoors as well as reaching another final. He reached the final at five of the six indoor events he has played this season.
The ATP Finals will be played on indoor hard courts.
While the final year-end rankings are still to be determined, Auger-Aliassime is guaranteed to finish at a career-high ranking. The lowest he could finish is No. 7, which would be four spots above his previous career-best of No. 11 in 2021.
The ATP Finals will take place from Nov. 13 to 20.
