{"id":333812,"date":"2026-08-31T13:54:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T13:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/333812\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T13:54:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T13:54:27","slug":"felix-auger-aliassime-on-being-in-new-york-the-2026-u-s-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/333812\/","title":{"rendered":"F\u00e9lix Auger-Aliassime on Being in New York & the 2026 U.S. Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Estimated7 min read<\/p>\n

Growing up in Montr\u00e9al as the son of an immigrant from Togo and a French Canadian schoolteacher<\/a>, F\u00e9lix Auger-Aliassime frequently traveled to New York City<\/a> with his family. \u201cMontreal is the little cousin of New York,\u201d he says. \u201cThe diversity of the place, the people, the food scene.\u201d But, the tennis player clarifies, \u201cobviously just not as big.\u201d<\/p>\n

His first memories of the Big Apple were how crowded all the streets and shops were. But since turning pro in 2017, Auger-Aliassime, now 25, has found a new love for New York City. \u201cWhen I think of New York now, my first thought goes to the U.S. Open<\/a>, to the tennis,\u201d he says. \u201cMy favorite thing is just the energy around the tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Auger-Aliassime adds, \u201cNew York is the city of sports. People love it. You get people stopping you in the street wishing you best of luck. There\u2019s this cool vibe. As you progress through the tournament, people are [supporting] you and saying a good word on the street. So it\u2019s different than other tournaments that we go to. Here, you feel like the whole city\u2019s watching the event at the time. Some cities we go play, they have no idea there\u2019s a tournament there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SmilingCourtesy of The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park<\/p>\n

F\u00e9lix Auger-Aliassime at the Ritz for their \u201cCentral Park Open\u201d event last week. Over his years competing at the Open, Central Park has quickly become one of his favorite parts of the city, and this summer, the Canadian athlete is conveniently staying at the Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s fallen into a routine in New York. If he has time in the mornings before heading to the tournament, Auger-Aliassime and wife Nina<\/a> love to walk their dog, a Pomeranian named Timmy, in Central Park. But even in the park, there\u2019s no escaping the U.S. Open; he frequently gets stopped with words of encouragement. Still, he soaks it all in\u2014and is treasuring the opportunity he gets to compete on the biggest stadium in the sport<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you think of the opportunity I\u2019ve had over the years to play multiple times on Arthur Ashe stadium, it\u2019s amazing,\u201d he says. \u201cAfter I retire, looking back, it\u2019s going to be amazing to have those memories.\u201d Here, the no. 3 seed at the U.S. Open chats with Town & Country about what he loves about the tournament, why he has to take off his (new!) wedding ring to play, and the pressure of representation.<\/p>\n

Do you feel support from the New York crowds?<\/p>\n

Not against, for sure, so that\u2019s a good thing [laughing]. Sometimes fifty-fifty, which I like as well. I respect it. It\u2019s nice to have the crowd cheering for both sides, encouraging their best, their favorite players. I\u2019ve always been shown a lot of respect from the crowd, and I\u2019ve tried to show respect to the crowd. The relationship with the New York crowd has been great, and it\u2019s a very diverse crowd, which is nice to see. Good for the sport. You see people of all ages also come to the tennis and enjoy, from kids to older people that have probably come here for the last 30 years plus. It\u2019s very nice to see that.<\/p>\n

Last year you made it to the semifinals at the U.S. Open. What are you taking from that run going into this year\u2019s tournament?\"2025Mike Stobe\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Auger-Aliassime at last year\u2019s U.S. Open, after winning his third round match.<\/p>\n

The third round [of the 2025 U.S. Open], it was an important match. I was playing the number three seed; it was early in the tournament, a really big match that I knew, if I\u2019d win, it would maybe push me to a deeper run. Looking back, it was a crucial win. I was playing great. I felt like my game was in the right place. After that win, I really felt like I had the energy, the confidence, and that feeling that, \u201cyeah, I can push all the way through.\u201d Then it was stopped by the number one player in the world in the semifinals. But looking back, it was very positive. I hadn\u2019t had a semifinal run in New York since 2021, so it\u2019s nice to be back. Now the challenge for me is to repeat that, to go even further, to reach a first final here. But it\u2019s very challenging. There\u2019s a lot of competition.<\/p>\n

How do you feel being the no. 3 seed this year?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s better. It\u2019s a good position to be in. It doesn\u2019t guarantee anything, but if I do what I can do, if I kind of produce the level that I can produce, it helps. It\u2019s an advantage when you come to later stages of the tournament.<\/p>\n

Since the last U.S. Open, you got married. What\u2019s it like to have your now wife supporting you? Do you compete in your wedding ring?\"SpainJean Catuffe\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The couple at the FIFA World Cup finals this summer.<\/p>\n

It was a great moment in both of our lives. We\u2019ve been together for a long time, so it felt very natural, but still it was an important step for our families and for ourselves, really. We got married in Morocco last year in September, just after the U.S. Open, actually. [After,] I tried to play with the ring. I tried in practice, and I told her, I said, \u201cLook, it\u2019s not going to work.\u201d It [was] annoying me and hurting my finger too much on the backhand. I have a little special pocket that I put it in, in the [tennis] bag. So it\u2019s just off for the matches and practicing.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re playing on Ashe, do you ever look up at the jumbotrons to see the celebrities there?<\/p>\n

I try not to look at the screen, funny enough. I don\u2019t want to know who\u2019s watching. Maybe it can distract my thoughts a little bit, and for the next five minutes I\u2019m thinking about, like, \u201coh, I didn\u2019t know this person is watching.\u201d If in any way it was somebody I really admired or really looked up to, it would be maybe a bit distracting. I prefer to just keep my head down.<\/p>\n

Fun fact, I actually keep my head down quite a bit on purpose during the match because, in a sense, you try to really be clear in your thoughts and not get distracted by other things. Between points, you often see me\u2014I think other players, too\u2014kind of look down and look away. Because if you cross eyes with people in the crowd, it can be a bit weird, right? You lock eyes with them, they might say something to you, encourage you, which you\u2019re like, thank you, but at the same time I\u2019m trying to focus. It\u2019s like if you\u2019re into a book that you\u2019re really into, you just want to stay in it.<\/p>\n

\"2026Andy Cheung\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Auger-Aliassime\u2019s wife Nina watches his match during the United Cup at the start of 2026.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re looking at your player\u2019s box<\/a>, what are you looking for?<\/p>\n

Information! I\u2019m looking for advice. Tell me something. It\u2019s not going well\u2014tell me something. Usually that\u2019s how it goes. When everything\u2019s smooth and going well, you don\u2019t look at them. I got it. And then when things are going south, you\u2019re starting to get life.<\/p>\n

Have you noticed a change in how matches go now that players can talk to their boxes?<\/p>\n

Oh, definitely. Yes. I think the sport was seen before much more as\u2014I mean, it is individual\u2014but much more the \u201cgentleman\u2019s sport\u201d where you don\u2019t get coaching and you\u2019re by yourself out there, you figure it out, and then it\u2019s between the two [players]. Where now, there\u2019s more of that team element. I think on TV they talk a lot about how the player\u2019s box, they talk about their team, their family. You can see even clips of their preparation before the match. There\u2019s a more 360 approach and footage and uncovered scenes and all that. I like it, personally, because these people that we work with that before were in the shadows, [but] they people that work all year with us. So to showcase them, it\u2019s very nice as well.<\/p>\n

\"2026Sarah Stier\/\/Getty ImagesAuger-Aliassime played mixed doubles with Alex Eala<\/a> last week. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting to do different things,\u201d he says. \u201cHer fan base is unbelievable.\u201dDo you have any routines in New York that you keep to?<\/p>\n

I like to have my routine\u2014breakfast here at the hotel, maybe go for a coffee around the block. There\u2019s two spots around here for coffee, and there\u2019s also a spot called Mangia<\/a> that\u2019s a lunch place. If I play a late match, I might just skip breakfast and go straight to lunch there. I\u2019m kind of a foodie as well, so I like New York in that sense where I know my spots now. I know the Italian I like to go to, the sushi I like to go to, the Thai restaurant nearby. So it\u2019s good.<\/p>\n

Do you get superstitious about dining? I know some players can get weird about, \u201cOh, I\u2019ve got to eat here.\u201d<\/p>\n

No. The days before the match, [my] team, they want me to eat the right things. I\u2019m careful myself about doing the right things in order to prepare for what\u2019s most important. But on practice days or days where maybe it\u2019s not as important, I like to enjoy different things, different restaurants. I\u2019m not too [superstitious], like some players that go to the same one every day until the end. I like to change things up.<\/p>\n

Going into the U.S. Open, there\u2019s always the question of who\u2019s going to be the next American man to win. But Canadian tennis is also in the spotlight, as this is the only Grand Slam in North America. Do you feel pressure from Canada to represent?\"TennisClive Brunskill\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Auger-Aliassime has represented Canada at two Olympics. In Paris, he won Bronze in mixed doubles with Gabriela Dabrowski.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve dealt with this position for some years now; I\u2019m happy to be in this position. I don\u2019t shy away from it. It\u2019s a privilege. Canada hasn\u2019t produced so many high-level tennis players, Grand Slam champions. We had one, Bianca Andreescu, winning here a couple years back, but on the men\u2019s side we\u2019ve never done it. That\u2019s what I\u2019m chasing. If I can do it, it would be a great pride, obviously to do it for myself, but also to represent a country that\u2019s trying to do the right things and push the sport forward, in tennis and different sports as well. It\u2019s always a privilege, honestly, to be in that position. North American tennis, American tennis\u2014everybody\u2019s young. A lot of young players playing well\u2014I\u2019m including myself! I\u2019m not [old] yet. Hopefully I\u2019ve got a lot more years in front of me.<\/p>\n

\"Play\"Video\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Emily Burack (she\/her) is the Deputy Digital Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, celebrities, the royals, and a wide range of other topics. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"7 min read Growing up in Montr\u00e9al as the son of an immigrant from Togo and a French…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[124283,124282,1380,125507,569,83931,568,9,11,10,80921,125506,108292,94966],"class_list":["post-333812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-collection-tennis-news","tag-collection-u-s-open-2026","tag-content-type-feature","tag-contentid-d50ac4c0-11be-4060-bd80-dd29df3e429c","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-us","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-read_time-8","tag-shorttitle-felix-auger-aliassime-on-the-city-of-sports","tag-sponsored-false","tag-subsection-sporting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}