“I don’t know if you’ll throw it in or on the moon” | Relief

After leaving Rafael Nadal’s bench at the end of 2017, Toni Nadal devoted himself to running the academy his nephew opened in Manacor the previous year. However, a call in early 2021 brought him back into action. On the other end of the phone was Frédéric Fontagne, trainer Felix Auger-Aliassime. The Canadian player was already in the ATP top 20 at that time, but since he was unable to make the final push – and he had the qualities for this – his coach decided to contact uncle Tony.

Tony and FAA – as Auger-Aliassime is known in the tennis world – joined paths in April 2021.. The Spaniard has been his constant advisor and also accompanied him in some tournaments until a few weeks ago. The Canadian decided to replace Tony’s fatheras the tennis player himself confirmed this Thursday at the Mutua Madrid Open.

His father will join Fontagne, who will remain his head coach and the one who will sit in his box at the Caja Magica this Friday for the semi-final against Czech Jiri Legecky.

Alassime is hoping for his first Masters 1000 final at the Mutua Madrid Open, just at a time when no one cared about him.. It took him a long time to find his game and suddenly the sky opened up for him in Madrid. He eliminated Kasper Ruud, the strongest player on clay, in the 1/8 finals, and in the quarter-finals he did not even have to take the court due to the withdrawal of Jannik Sinner.

Guidelines established by Toni Nadal

When Toni and Alassime first met, the Balearic coach wanted to be very honest with him. The player had enormous talent and a superb forehand, but was rather erratic. ““I don’t know where you’re going to throw him: inside, outside or to the moon,” Tony told him at the meeting where the Canadian heard four pieces of advice. your new coach.

“You fail too much,” Toni said. “And why are you failing? Because you’re not giving the ball enough height. Sometimes the ball goes straight, hits the net or falls towards you. “We have to play at a higher altitude.”

The second piece of advice was to cover his forehand more and avoid backhands, his weakest point. “Whatever you can hit with your forehand, don’t hit with your backhand. It will make you more aggressive.” and you will also have better footwork.” Then he said: “When you go online, you have to go much faster,

“You can’t go with such little determination.”

And the last tip was about mobility. “It is very important to have good footwork and get used to playing on the same line a lot.. I made Raphael go in and out all the time, it makes you move more.”

Seven months after starting work with Tony, Alyassim cracked the top 10 in the world rankings for the first time and then had a memorable 2022, winning four ATP titles. in addition to the Davis Cup, and closed the course, becoming number six in the world, this is his ceiling so far. Finally, Alassim found himself where many had placed him: in Crème de la crème.

However, its trajectory since the end of 2022 has been quite regular with much fanfare: 38 wins, 29 losses and a fall in the rankings. FAU is currently ranked 35th in the ATP Rankings, its worst ranking in five years.

Life with a thousand facets

Auger-Aliassime was born in Montreal on August 8 – the same day as Roger Federer – in 2000 in the family of Togolese emigrant Sam Aliassime and French-Canadian Marie Auger. “I am the son of two cultures and two religions, Muslim and Catholic: I carry this diversity throughout the world”– proudly declares the player who started a project to help people in need in northern Togo.

His father emigrated from Togo in search of a better life and it was he who introduced tennis to his son. In fact, he was his coach until little Felix began to manifest and the house realized that they needed a professional coach. The result was soon visible: He reached number two in the junior rankings and won the US Open in the same category in 2016..

The owner of an excellent education, people in the area joke about it and some began to call him Oxford, because he speaks as if he studied something important at this university.