Felix Auger-Aliassime Convinced He’s ‘Getting Closer’ to Defeat Jannik Sinner After Paris Masters Final: 'I Take My Hat Off to Him'

Although Felix Auger-Aliassime‘s campaign at the Paris Masters ended in disappointment, he was still positive about his performance in the final against Jannik Sinner. The Italian needed nearly three hours to go past the Canadian in straight sets to improve the head-to-head record to 3-2.

The wins that Auger-Aliassime had secured over the four-time Grand Slam champion was back in 2022, when Sinner was not the formidable force that he has now become. Prior to the final, the 25-year-old acknowledged Sinner’s dominance, but he did not think of him as someone ‘invincible’. Auger-Aliassime seemed to reiterate the same following his defeat.

For me, the gap between us isn’t huge. I’m getting closer to him with every match we play against each other. This match was quite close. At the US Open, I managed to win a set, but I lost the first and fourth in a tough match. Today, we saw that the match was very tight. His serve and return today were at an impressive level, of the highest quality; I take my hat off to him.

Auger-Aliassime was chasing his first Masters 1000 title of his career in his second final at this level. For Sinner, now a winner of five Masters 1000 titles, had never progressed beyond the third round in Paris before this year.

It was Auger-Aliassime’s fifth final of the season. Prior to the Paris event, he won the championship matches of the Adelaide International, Open Sud de France, and the European Open, losing the finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships and Paris Masters.

For Sinner, it was his first Masters 1000 of the season, and since the 2024 Shanghai Masters, as before Paris, he had lost the finals of the Italian Open and the Cincinnati Masters to Carlos Alcaraz. His next task is to win the ATP Finals, where he will be chasing his sixth title of the season, following his wins at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, China Open, Vienna Open, and the Paris Masters. His latest win has made him a player with the second-most titles this season on the men’s tour after Alcaraz.

Felix Auger-Aliassime on why Jannik Sinner is successful in indoor hard courts

For Jannik Sinner, the win over Felix Auger-Aliassime was his 21st match win on indoor hardcourts. He has now won a total of nine titles on the surface. At the press conference after his defeat, Auger-Aliassime was asked what makes Sinner so good on indoor hardcourts.