As Felix Auger-Aliassime dropped to his knees in celebration of a 6-4, 7-6(6), 3-6, 3-6, 6-4 over Alexander Zverev on Monday, the #NextGenATP star recognised the enormity of reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
“I think my celebration was very honest and genuine,” said Auger-Aliassime. “It’s a big milestone for me in my young career. You want to play well in the Grand Slams, especially here being my favourite tournament.
“This match really had everything. I had to dig deep physically and mentally. Of course, it makes it even sweeter.”
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The 20-year-old joined fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who recorded a 6-1, 6-3, 7-5 victory earlier in the day over eighth seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, in the last eight at the All England Club.
“You’re fighting of course for yourself to win, for your team,” said Auger-Aliassime, who has won 10 of his past 12 matches on grass courts and now plays his good friend, seventh-seeded Italian Matteo Berrettini. “In the back of your mind, you also have everybody back home. The tonnes of messages I receive afterwards, from people that have helped me to get where I am today.
“It means a lot. For me to give this back to them is also great. It feels really good. It’s teamwork. The country is behind us. My city [of Montreal] is behind me. It’s really good to do that, to have this much support. [It’s] a great day for us Canadians and hopefully it keeps going.”
It marks the first time that two Canadian men have reached a Grand Slam quarter-final.
Shapovalov admitted to playing “flawless” in his victory on Monday afternoon and the 22-year-old can now look forward to facing Russian 25th seed Karen Khachanov on Wednesday.
“I’m very happy with my game,” said Shapovalov. “Obviously, Roberto is a very, very tough player to play against. To beat him straight sets at a tournament like this, it backs up my level from Andy’s [Murray] match. I’m just happy that I feel like I’m improving every single match.
“I feel like everything’s kind of working for me. Obviously, it’s not a guarantee that it’s going to continue like this. But I’m super, super happy with the way I’ve been able to play in the past two matches.”
Source Tennis – ATP World Tour
