Fans looking over today’s US Open semifinals will see three very familiar names in Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.
But one player that a few may not recognize is Félix Auger-Aliassime, who has dazzled at this year’s tournament with victories over the likes of Alex de Minaur and Andrey Rublev.
The Canadian now has a place in a grand slam semifinal for just the second time in his career, having gotten this far at Flushing Meadows in 2021.
Despite an impressive run that year and some bright moments in the semifinal, Auger-Aliassime was beaten fairly comfortably by Daniil Medvedev, who won 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 and proceeded to lift the trophy that year.
In particular, the Canadian struggled to deal with Medvedev’s serve, with the Russian racking up 12 aces and winning 80% of his first serve points.
But Auger-Aliassime was just 21 years old then, and believes his game has improved in a number of ways since the last time he found himself on the cusp of a grand slam final.
“Physicality, movement got much better, stronger physically, the serve, the forehand more precise, the backhand was always consistent, the return was always good, deep,” he said after defeating de Minaur on Wednesday. “Yeah, those are the main things.”
The Canadian is going to need all of those skills if he is to have any chance of going one step further than he did four years ago.