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ROLAND GARROS – The spring clay of 2023 has been a little fraught for Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime.

First, it was the knee, which caused him to miss Monte Carlo and postpone this year’s clay-court campaign.

Then, it was Madrid, where the 22-year-old lost a tight-three setter – in a third-set tiebreak – to the capable Dusan Lajovic.

Then came Rome where – again – he was defeated in a marathon, 7-5 in the third set by an Alexei Popyrin who was on fire that day.

A last-minute add of the tournament in Lyon, where he was the No. 1 seed, at least gave him a win. It came against No. 240 in the ATP Tour rankings, Spain’s Pablo Llamas Ruiz. If that’s a player you’ve not heard of, you’re not alone. He wasn’t ranked high enough to even get into Roland Garros qualifying.

Then came a highly anticipated match against 18-year-old Frenchman Arthur Fils. But a shoulder concern caused Auger-Aliassime to withdraw and head to Paris, hoping for the best as the second Grand Slam season got under way.

In the days before his first-round match against Fabio Fognini Monday, Auger-Aliassime at least had reason for optimism.

“Honestly, it’s going in the right direction. I’ve done everything I can to try to mitigate the remaining pain. All the medical tests are good, and I got the green light to play the tournament from the doctors,” Auger-Aliassime said during a pre-tournament press conference Saturday.

The Canadian said that if he had no expectations in Paris, he wouldn’t play the tournament. He’s not at a level where he’ll compete just to see how it will go, or just to take part.

“If I’m here, it’s because I feel like I can win some matches,” he said. “But I don’t have extremely high expectations, because relative to the last few weeks, the fact that I haven’t ben able to win a lot of matches, it’s tough to have very high expectations in terms of results,” he said. “On the other hand, I try to have expectations at the level of my competitiveness, at the level of my commitment, at the level of the effort that I’ll give in every match.”

Shoulder issue affects the forehand

While most shoulder problems affect the serve, Auger-Aliassime said the issue, with the clavicle, mostly affects the forehand. He acknowledged, with a bit of a laugh, that this obviously wasn’t a good thing as it’s a shot he heavily relies on.

“But I was pleasantly surprised (Saturday morning) that it was actually better,” he said.

Certainly, in practice, he looked like the 22-year-old was going full out on the forehand. And the medical professionals told him that he wouldn’t make it worse by paying, although he’ll monitor it closely.

Here’s what it looked like on Saturday.

The serve a year-long challenge

Auger-Aliassime said he wasn’t serving well in Rome, an issue he said he’s had trouble with all season. And, of course, the big serve is the foundation of Auger-Aliassime’s success.

Ultimately, he feels – quite astutely – that he wasn’t doing anything in an above-average way, at a top-10 level. Which he can. But if he’s not, he knows he can lose to a lot of players. “When I play at the speed I can play with, the aggressiveness I can play with, that’s when I become a player different from the others,” he said.

Tough times in Rome

After the loss to Popyrin in Rome, Auger-Aliassime told Open Court that his clay-court matches, since the knee issue, had been complicated at times – especially with his serve, with what he can control.

“I’ve been doing the reps in practice, but I’ve had a hard time finding the right rhythm, finding a certain consistency. That created a lot of tension, a lot of uncertainty on that side of my game. And then, I think, that kind of transfers a bit to the rest of my game,” he said. “A bit of hesitation that I’m not used to having on some shots, on my position on return of serve. I haven’t found a zone where I can win several points in a row, where I can tell myself, ‘Okay, I’ve found something that works’, and rely on that. It hasn’t happened for long-enough periods. So it’s complicated.”

Clay-court tactics a moveable feast

Auger-Aliassime had some clay-court success early in his career – notably on the Challenger circuit, and down in South American at the ATP 500 in Rio. But it’s taken him some time to figure out the right way to play.

“A couple of years ago, I tried to just be more patient, to wait for the ball to come, let it drop. But in the end, I found that I shouldn’t change the way I play too much,” he said. “You can see that with most players; you shouldn’t change the way you play too much.

“I try to play a certain way all year, to maintain a similar course of action. Of course, I know that on clay, at certain moments, you have to take a little more time on return to find the proper height for the first hit. You have to be a little more patient,” he added. “I have to play my forehand as much as possible, move well, try to move forward, try to make the opponent move more than when I’m on other surfaces. Sometimes, there are two or three extra shots, but I don’t practically change the way that I play.”

Fognini an experienced campaigner

As for his first opponent, the sublimely talented but inconsistently focused Fabio Fognini, Auger-Aliassime knows he has to be the instigator.

The Italian, who turned 36 last week and has been a pro for two decades. But he is 4-9 on the season, his singles ranking of No. 130 stubbornly hidden on the ATP Tour website by a superior doubles ranking of No. 52.

Fognini had six first-round losses in his first seven tournaments of the year. And he skipped Monte Carlo and Madrid with an injury he said likely would have let him to skip Rome as well.

Except it was Rome – home.

He found a measure of his old magic in wins over Andy Murray and Miomir Kecmanovic, before falling to Holger Rune.

But Fognini is not what he was, even if he still has the ability to turn it on – at least for a time, if not in a best-of-five set match.

“Even if he’s been on Tour for many years, the fact remains that he’s a good player, he really knows how to play good tennis. If I don’t impose myself, if I don’t make him move from the start of points, or if I allow him to be in a zone, or in a pace of play where he can be comfortable, he hits the ball really well. He finds good angles, and he has great touch as well,” Auger-Aliassime said.

“I can’t let him play and on some level let him be in a comfort zone, because things could get complicated very quickly for me. I’ll try to play with the explosiveness I know I can play with, the speed I can play with. If I do that, my chances of winning are better.”

The two have played just once. It was in the first round of that 2019 tournament in Rio where Auger-Aliassime, still just 18, first made his mark. Fognini went down to South America that year and lost in the first round of all three clay-court events he played. A few months later, he won Monte Carlo.

That’s not where his career is at the moment. But it remains a fascinating first-round matchup.

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