Felix Auger-Aliassime is heading back to the ‘drawing board’ after dizziness ended his US Open campaign.
The third seed made a great start to his second round match against Karen Khachanov but ultimately lost in four sets.
The Canadian won the last first set tiebreak but was thrashed in the next three sets in a poor display.
Some of that was down to dizziness on the court as Auger-Aliassime explained how he felt on Louis Armstrong Stadium, “I mean, it’s tough to talk about anything else than how I felt physically,” Auger-Aliassime began his press conference by saying.
“After a set and a half, I just couldn’t feel well and was dizzy and seeing spots and, yeah, couldn’t recover. I thought maybe it would pass, but it didn’t. When I lost the third set, no, because I was thinking maybe I take a break, maybe in 20 minutes I’ll feel better. But obviously it wasn’t the case, and not much you can do. You know, hydration, supplementation, but then if it doesn’t go away, I mean, the guy keeps on winning points, and you have to… So by the time it was 3-Love, 4-Love, I was, like, okay, let’sfinish the match, let’s see, but I didn’t want to retire at that point.”
Elaborating on his condition Auger-Aliassime admitted he never felt like this before but gave credit to Khachanov for his level, “No, no, I’ve never felt quite like that,” Auger-Aliassime confessed.
“I’ve had cramps before. I’ve felt, okay, tired towards the end of matches, but in a normal way. This was abnormal a little bit, and there were no signs in the last couple of days and no signs this morning, as well. Yeah, I’m not sure. I’m going to run some tests and see what comes out of it.
”Karen is a great player. Look, I cannot beat him or anybody in this draw feeling the way I felt today. If I cannot move, we’re not talking about tennis here. It’s unfortunate. I wish we were talking about tennis. I wish that I was beaten and we were talking about what I could have done better tennis-wise, but it’s not the case.
“So next tournament, and let’s see how I can play better.”
It’s disappointment for Auger-Aliassime who was in the semi-finals last year but will now lose a whole bunch of ranking points.
The Canadian assessed his next options and admitted it’s back to the ‘drawing board,’ “Now I need to digest obviously this disappointment, but it’s going to take me just a day or two and go back home, obviously talk with the people that help me, doctors, fitness coaches, physios, and nutritionists, and that’s it,” Auger-Aliassime detailed.
“Then I go back to training. We have Davis Cup coming, which is also important for me. We haven’t played in Quebec, or I haven’t played in a long time, especially in my hometown. Now I’m looking forward to that.
”So that’s the end of the tournament for me, and now back to the drawing board.”
