"If you want to play fewer tournaments stay home, nobody's forcing you to be here": Felix Auger-Aliassime hits out at schedule burnout narrative

Felix Auger-Aliassime pushed back at the narrative that players on tour are physically and mentally worn out from the demanding schedule and said that players have lost grip on perspective and don't know how fortunate they are to be in the position they are in.

While many players have moaned about the schedule at the ATP Finals and the amount of tournaments on offer, Auger-Aliassime very much takes the lucky tact and said that he is lucky to have the job he does and being able to wake up every day to play tennis so he can't be sad or want the schedule to be decreased.

He said that he has the hunger so much that he gets annoyed for the day if he loses a match and that travelling around the world and being able to play the sport for a living outweighs any sort of issues surrounding the schedule.

“I don't know how guys don't enjoy it, to be honest. I think they lost perspective completely. I get that you can get tired. I'm tired, too. I do trips around and I go see different circumstances around the world. I mean, we're just lucky and blessed. In my humble opinion, every day I wake up and I enjoy. I enjoy that I'm here. Even if I lose matches, it's okay, I'm p***d for a day.

“I do trips around and I go see different circumstances around the world,” the Canadian 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.”

He said this after he took down Alexander Zverev in a thrilling win and as he prepares to face off against Carlos Alcaraz he summed up the clash. He said it's like a grand finale whenever you play as he spoke about playing Alcaraz and the fact that he knows now in his head that he needs to beat the best to be the best.

A spot on the final is on the line this evening for him against Alcaraz while Sinner is currently facing off against De Minaur as of right now for the first spot in the final.

“This is a high-value tournament for players,” said Auger-Aliassime, when asked about the Alcaraz clash. “It’s like a grand finale and when you have a look at the list of champions, there have been many No. 1s. You want to be in the final but I’ll have to go through a great player to do that. I will take my chance if I have it.”

“It was a great first set. He was getting a few chances but I came up with big serves to save them,” said Auger-Aliassime said, who is up three spots No. 5 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. “The first set was very solid and the start of the second set was, too. I had a lot of chances.

"When that happens you need to focus on the present but you’re aware of missed opportunities, so the match got a little tense from that moment. But I was able to hold serve and in the tie-break it was tight till the end.”