Tennis fans have expressed their sadness at Felix Auger-Aliassime's drop in form this season after he lost his first-round match at the National Bank Canadian Open in Toronto, with some blaming his coach Toni Nadal.

Former world No. 6 Auger-Aliassime suffered a difficult defeat in his opening round at the ATP 1000 event against qualifier Max Purcell. The tenth seed lost to the Australian in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.

Purcell put on a dominant display throughout the match, only conceding three points behind his first serve, and not giving away any break points en route to emerging the victor, defeating the Canadian player on home soil.

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A season of struggles for Auger-Aliassime

For Auger-Aliassime, this means that his win-loss record for the season has now leveled out at 13-13. The 23-year-old has not registered back-to-back victories since the Indian Wells Masters in March and went out in the first round of the French Open, Wimbledon, and last week's DC Open.

This drop in form is especially surprising given the immense talent the 23-year-old has displayed in recent years. He reached the semi-finals of the US Open in 2021, and took 14-time champion Rafael Nadal to five sets in the fourth round of the 2022 Roland Garros, becoming only the third player to achieve such a feat after Novak Djokovic and John Isner.

He also won four ATP titles last season which saw him almost break into the top 5 in the world rankings, but has since dropped out of the top 10, currently sitting at No. 12.

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Fans blame Toni Nadal

Following his most recent defeat, tennis fans took to social media to voice their concerns for the player:

"It's been hard to watch Felix this year... he's not even winning sets," tweeted one.

Some fans went a step further by suggesting that the young player's coach Toni Nadal, the uncle of 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael, was to blame and that Auger-Aliassime should find another coaching situation. The pair first started working together in April 2021.

"If he hasn't fired Toni yet, it's time," wrote one, whilst another added:

"Ton[i] Nadal destroyed this poor kid! Felix run!"

Ⓜ️𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝔻.

@Mookie__Bets

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Replying to @josemorgado

If he hasn’t fired Toni yet, it’s time.

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