By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, June 29, 2026
Picture credit score: Cameron Spencer/Getty
Wimbledon—Flying by means of his Wimbledon opener, Felix Auger-Aliassime shared his strategy to the grass-court Grand Slam.
The 2025 US Open semifinalist unplugs from social media fully whereas plugging into tennis fandom watching Wimbledon diligently on his days off.
That strategy paid off in his opener as Auger-Aliassime whipped 15 aces towards one double fault and didn’t face a break level in a clear 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 sweep of Alexander Shevchenko in spherical one.
Seed third, his highest Wimbledon seed, Auger-Aliassime mentioned muting the noise across the match helps him keep targeted.
“One factor I’ve put in place for, I don’t know, I can’t keep in mind now, fairly some years is simply staying off social media. , so simple as that,” Auger Aliassime advised the media on Monday. “Staying off what’s mentioned about your self, what’s mentioned about others. There’s a number of noise on the market.
“And I do get pleasure from that half as properly the remainder of the 12 months, and I get pleasure from that folks give curiosity to our sport and speak about it, however I avoid that. I like to observe sports activities. We’ve got the World Cup occurring proper now, so you may watch sport however not yours.
“On off days I additionally watch a number of tennis. I like watching. Clearly it’s a special facet of the draw, so that you get to see different gamers you’re not going to face till the ultimate…I disconnect but in addition keep linked to watching the sport, and I discover it very fascinating.”
Auger-Aliassime improved to 8-6 lifetime at SW19 as he goals to enhance on final 12 months’s second-round exit to Jan-Lennard Struff.
In spherical two, Auger-Aliassime will face Croatian Dino Prizmic with the winner of that match taking up both American qualifier Michael Zheng or One hundred and sixty fifth-ranked Colombian Nicolas Mejia for a fourth-round spot.
“I really feel good. By no means simple to start out a Grand Slam. There’s nerves,” Auger-Aliassime mentioned. “We’re
taking part in, like, Wimbledon. We don’t get to follow on all of the courts. So, you understand, Courtroom 2, a courtroom I’ve performed earlier than. I’ve had good moments, powerful moments there.
“So that you’re undecided how you’ll really feel concerning the courtroom, how your opponent goes to play. I actually simply took care of what’s in my management very well. My serve didn’t get damaged, didn’t give him a number of possibilities. And I felt the remainder of my sport, typically it’s difficult, was at a excessive stage. Very happy with how I performed.”
