Up-and-coming Canadian star Felix Auger-Aliassime has confirmed that Novak Djokovic is still number one in the world and he believes Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will be competitive as always on their return.
Djokovic, Nadal and Federer are absent from this year’s event in Indian Wells. After a busy summer, Djokovic decided to take a break. On the other hand, both Nadal and Federer ended their respective seasons in August due to injuries.
“It would come at some point. A generation change. Novak is still number one and Roger and Rafa will see how they come back, ”said world number 11 Auger-Aliassime on tennis head.
“But they have done it so many times in their careers in the past. They’ll be hard to beat while they’re playing. In tournaments like this, where the average age of the top eight seeded players is 23, you know it’s going to be very competitive.
But as a young player you try to establish yourself with the top players who will dominate in the coming year or who will win the big titles. For me the challenge is great, but at the same time the motivation is great to try to play well in order to end the season and compete with the best players in the world. ”
Auger-Aliassime is ready for his third appearance in Indian Wells
Auger-Aliassime has never made it through the third round at Indian Wells but he will certainly hope to do so this year with the Big 3 absent.
A few days ago Auger-Aliassime’s coach Toni Nadal admitted that he never imagined that Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer would achieve so much. “I could never have imagined that they would achieve so much,” said Toni of Nadal and Federer, quoted in Tennis Majors.
“Federer, yes, we saw that he would be one of the best in history – because he does everything well. When I saw that Rafael was with [23 oder 24 Jahren] already [jeden] Had won the Grand Slam, I thought he could win a lot and strive to be one of the best. ”Photo Credit: EFE
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