“He invited me here when I was 17”: Felix Auger-Aliassime recalls Roger Federer’s Dubai gesture

Felix Auger-Aliassime is enjoying another great week, this time at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, where he had none other than Roger Federer as a luxury spectator. The 20-time Grand Slam champion visited the Middle East to attend as a spectator the final ATP 500 event of the swing.

It was there that the Canadian recalled a special anecdote with Federer when he was just 17 years old, and when he precisely trained as the Swiss player’s sparring partner.

The world No. 8 had the presence of the Swiss Maestro as a spectator and delighted Federer with a convincing victory over the 8th seed Jiri Lehecka (6-3, 7-6). Auger-Aliassime reached 11 wins in his last 12 appearances — since the injury suffered in the first round of the Australian Open. This week he has already left on the way Zhizhen Zhang (6-3, 7-6) and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (6-4, 6-4).

The 25-year-old joked about Federer’s presence once again as a spectator at a tennis tournament, after his recent appearance at the Aussie Open a month ago. “Roger was here. I guess he's bored — he likes to come back to tennis,” Auger-Aliassime joked after the match against Lehecka. “He likes to watch the younger generation,” he added.

While Auger-Aliassime was referring to Federer’s presence, he shared with the microphones his special appreciation for Federer, not only for his legacy as a player, but also for a gesture he had with him when he was only a teenager.

“Jokes aside, we all love Roger, but personally I've always loved him obviously as a player. He invited me here in Dubai when I was 17 to practice with him. I’ll always be grateful to him for giving me that opportunity.”

“It’s so nice to see him come back to events,” Auger-Aliassime added. “He was in Australia, talking with the players, being in the locker room, and now he's back here watching from the stands. He loves the game. He was here with his parents — it’s unreal to see. I’m glad he’s still around. Amazing.”

Federer and Auger-Aliassime faced each other only once during their careers, back in the 2021 Halle Open. On that occasion Federer arrived as the 5th seed, but ended up falling in the Round of 16, in the tournament where he holds the incredible record of 10 titles. It was also one of the last tournaments of Federer as a professional, as that year he later played Wimbledon — reaching the quarter-finals — and returning one last time to compete at the Laver Cup in 2022 as his farewell tournament.

The first training sessions between Federer and Auger-Aliassime date back to 2017, a remarkable season for Federer after a heavy drop in the rankings the previous year. Federer was coming from a 2016 season in which injuries made him fall in the ranking until finishing the year as No. 16.

He started 2017 at the Australian Open, where he delivered an absolute surprise, winning his 18th major title after defeating Rafael Nadal in the final.

The second tournament for Federer that season was scheduled in Dubai — where he already had seven titles and appeared as an ideal scenario to gain confidence. The Swiss was already 36 years old, but had shown that he still had the level to compete at the highest stage. However, his run in Dubai was not the best, and after the training sessions with Auger-Aliassime, Federer went out eliminated surprisingly in the second round by Evgeny Donskoy.

It was only a bad result in an extraordinary year for the Swiss, who won seven titles — including two Grand Slams at the Australian Open and Wimbledon — in addition to once again achieving the Sunshine Double, lifting the trophy at Indian Wells Masters and the Miami Open consecutively.

Meanwhile, Felix prepares for his return to the courts this Friday in the semi-final duel in Dubai — where a victory could see him advance to his third consecutive final. He will have a tough challenge against former world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev, champion in Dubai in 2023 and who has conceded only a total of 12 games so far in the tournament.

The head-to-head is widely favourable to the Russian, who leads 7-2 in direct encounters. Medvedev took victory in their first seven matches, but Auger-Aliassime managed to claim victory in the last two they played — the latest of them a year ago in the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open.

This time the Canadian is the one who arrives with more confidence to the semi-final clash — being the fourth time they face each other at this stage in an ATP-level tournament.