Felix Auger-Aliassime grew up a Roger Federer fan.
The 19-year-old Canadian reveals training with the 20-time Grand Slam champion changed his professional perspective.
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Though Auger-Aliassime and Federer have yet to meet in an ATP match the pair practiced together at Federer's training camp in Dubai in 2017.
In a new interview with Vogue, the Canadian No. 1 said that experience altered his point of view on his tennis idol.
"As a kid, you see Federer with such distance, he’s almost like a divinity,” Auger-Aliassime told Vogue. “But for me to talk to him and play with him—it reduced this distance a little bit.”
The world No. 19 credits his father, Sam, a tennis coach, for his passion for the sport.
“He just transmitted his passion to us,” Auger-Aliassime says, grinning broadly, revealing the gap in his front teeth. “I don’t really have a memory of not playing. And at a very young age, I told him, ‘I want to be a professional tennis player.’
"What I like most about the game is its competitive side. It’s a duel—like chess or like gladiators. It’s two players confronting each other and finding solutions, and I really like that.”
Photo credit: @QueensClub