Auger-Aliassime splits with coach of nearly a decade days after Wimbledon exit

Felix Auger-Aliassime has ended his coaching partnership with Frédéric after nearly ten years together, the Canadian announced on social media, three days after his Wimbledon campaign ended in a five-set quarterfinal defeat to Novak Djokovic.

“After nearly ten years of working together, it has recently been decided that Wimbledon would be my last tournament with Frédéric by my side as my coach,” Auger-Aliassime wrote, adding that the French man had guided him “since I was 16 years old” and had been by his side “during the toughest moments of (his) career,” calling him “a true mentor throughout my journey into adulthood.”

The timing is notable. The tournament’s No. 4 seed has posted a season of tangible progress – quarterfinal runs at both Roland-Garros and Wimbledon – yet he has been unusually candid about the gap between those results and his own expectations. Speaking before Wimbledon began, he described his form as still short of where he wants it: “It varies, you know. It’s not maybe as consistent as I would like. But I’m in a good place in my career, in a good place in my mind. Physically as well.”

I had envisioned and visualised being in that final, and I didn’t. So there’s a lot of disappointment.

That same conversation carried an honest reckoning with his Roland-Garros exit. “I’m not the player I want to be,” Auger-Aliassime had said in Paris, a verdict he repeated in substance before Wimbledon: “I felt that I’d lost in the quarterfinals where I felt there was an opportunity for me,” he said, recalling that Flavio Cobolli had gone on to reach that final.

“I had envisioned and visualised being in that final, and I didn’t. So there’s a lot of disappointment.” He admitted he had barely had time to process it before returning to competition, playing a grass-court event within a week, and said proper reflection – on the Roland-Garros exit and “where I’m going next” – would have to wait until after Wimbledon, before the Masters event in Montreal and the US Open.

Auger-Aliassime gave no indication of who might replace Frédéric Fontang in his corner, saying only that he wished him “nothing but the very best” in his future endeavours.