Auger-Aliassime bucks trend of player exhaustion complaints: “They lost perspective completely”
Felix Auger-Aliassime can’t understand the general narrative that the players are physically and mentally drained by the tennis season. “I don’t know how guys don’t enjoy it, to be honest.”
Felix Auger-Aliassime, ATP Finals 2025 | © Ch. Caillaud / PsNewz
Felix Auger-Aliassime surprisingly pushed back against the prevailing narrative that players on Tour are physically and mentally worn out from the demanding schedule.
Countering the growing calls for calendar cuts, Auger-Aliassime declared a firm defense of the grind, saying many players “lost perspective completely” on how fortunate they are to compete.
“I don’t know how guys don’t enjoy it, to be honest,” Auger-Aliassime said on Friday after qualifying for the semifinals of the ATP Finals. “I get that you can get tired. I’m tired, too. But every day I wake up and I enjoy it. I enjoy that I’m here. Even if I lose matches, it’s okay, I’m pissed for a day.”
If you want to play fewer tournaments, stay home. Nobody’s forcing you to be here.
The exact question asked was: “Players seem to be physically or mentally exhausted or both. You look like you’re kind of enjoying it. It shouldn’t be so rare, but it feels like it is. Is that the case? What is your secret?”
“I do trips around and I go see different circumstances around the world,” the Canadian, fresh No.5 at the rankings, added. “I mean, we’re just lucky and blessed. I don’t know. If you want to play fewer tournaments, stay home. Nobody’s forcing you to be here.”
Auger-Aliassime is not 100% right here, as ATP rules state that all elite players must play all the Grand Slams (which they would do regardless), but also 8 Masters 1000 (only Monte-Carlo being optional), and 4 ATP 500 including one after the US Open.
De Minaur : “Not great numbers for our sport”
New thing on Tour is that a majority of the Masters 1000 tournaments are now played over more than one week. A movement of protest by players was highlighted this season and even amplified by Alex de Minaur on Thursday, as he qualified for the semifinals.
“I think we’ve seen this year the number of injuries,” the Australian stated, being himself disturbed by a hip injury. “It’s been the highest it’s ever been on tour, right? Those are not great numbers for our sport. We need to be looking after the players and their bodies.”
“The toughest thing as a player is you’re seeded and you make the fourth round. You play the fourth round in Indian Wells, the fourth round in Miami (12-day events each). You could potentially play six matches in a month, which is not enough,” de Minaur said, reflecting a sentiment many players share.
“I think if you ask any of the players out there, they will all rather have the one-week events because you go out there, you play, once you’re done, you’re done. Yeah, it allows us players to switch off.”
Djokovic’s invitation to do more
This week, ATP president Andrea Gaudenzi pushed for a seven-week break as a new rule, while still defending the legitimacy of the two-week Masters 1000 tournaments.
Novak Djokovic mentioned earlier in 2025 that this topic needs strong involvement from the players to be ever considered. “Going out in the media and talking about this and that, okay, it might stir up some energy or some attention” he said six weeks ago in Shanghai. “But at the end of the day, it’s not going to change. I know it from my personal experience, trust me”.
The 38-year old Serbian urged top players to actively participate in understanding and reforming the system, rather than just voicing complaints. “You have to invest the time, you have to invest energy yourself, not your agent, not your team, not your parents, not anybody, yourself, to dedicate yourself to understand how the system works, to understand what are the things that can be done to be reversed, to be improved in terms of the players’ interests.”
