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MELBOURNE, Australia – The travelling road show that is tennis is so relentless, the so-called “off-season” is barely that, these days.

And so, in a way, maybe whatever happened at the end of 2025 just bleeds right into 2026 – for good or bad.

If a player ends their season on a roll, that roll can continue. Just look at Victoria Mboko in Adelaide last week. If a player was injured, there is barely even enough time to get healthy (too many examples to mention there).

For world No. 8 Félix Auger-Aliassime, the break was an opportunity to heal up some of the bumps and bruises. But beyond that, there wasn’t much time to get any points and practice matches in at home in Monte Carlo.

“The goal coming to Sydney (for United Cup) was to have two guaranteed matches. I would have loved to continue the adventure and play a third, fourth or fifth. But it was already good to have two – and to play in doubles as well,” Auger-Aliassime said ahead of his Australian Open opener against the very capable Nuno Borges of Portugal Monday.

Auger-Aliassime also fell ill in Sydney; he was hardly alone among the players there to get sick. So he had no energy in the second singles match against Zizou Bergs of Belgium, and took a pass on the deciding mixed doubles.

After a great start, Canada eliminated at United Cup

“But since I arrived in Melbourne things have gone better and better. I’m spending a lot of time on the court and I’m feeling better and better physically, so all systems go to start the season,” he said.

Auger-Aliassime said that even if nothing is ever perfect, he’s happy with the state of the body going into the season. Because that wasn’t the case for some of the more recent trips Down Under.

In a conversation with a couple of journalists ahead of the tournament, Auger-Aliassime expounded on a few topics.

Offseason changes through the years

“When I was younger, as a teenager, I spent two or three months training in Montreal. That hasn’t been the case for several years. So little by little I’ve come to see the offseason as just a period – 3-4 weeks – without tournaments or matches. Not unlike other times during the season when I rest a little,” he said.

Auger-Aliassime doesn’t look at his progression as a player as a year-by-year thing; the years just follow one after another as the process continues apace. “I see where my game is, and I try to continue to improve. But I don’t see it as, like, ‘It’s the end of the year, and then I start something new, and rediscover my game again’,” he said.

The work on improving the backhand – this has been a work in progress for a decade, as he accuratenly pointed out – on finishing points at the net more often, and on precision with his serve and forehand – never stops. Those improvements really stood out on the back end of 2025; that’s one reason why he was able to get back to the top of the game.

No Adelaide defence signals different priorities

Auger-Aliassime’s ranking dropped from No. 5 to No. 7 last week because he didn’t return to Adelaide to defend the title he won to start the 2025 season.

But the new campaign has different priorities. A year ago, it was about getting his ranking back up; he was barely inside the top 30 when the season began. And that meant tougher draws at the big tournaments.

So Auger-Aliassime played more ATP 250 events.

“It worked fairly well, since I won Adelaide and Montpellier at the start of the year and Brussels at the end. But when you look at it, yes, it might have cost me earlier losses at Grand Slams – for example, playing Mallorca before Wimbledon and Hamburg before Roland Garros,” he said. “But that’s the gamble we took to get back up in the rankings.

“Now that I have, the stakes are completely different. The goal is to be able to prepare well and to have a good tournament here,” he added.

Managing a Slam

Auger-Aliassime said the management of a Grand Slam tournament is a constant evolution.

When you first arrive as a teenager, you really don’t know much about how to manage even the early-round matches – never mind the additional best-of-five-sets element.

“And if you go a little further in the tournament, that second week feels REALLY long. And you’re tired. But since about 2021-22 – the first time I was in a semifinal or a quarterfinal – my goal has been to get myself into that position every time.

“And then, you play the best players in the world. And so the one who wins his last three matches will win (the tournament). But you have to try to put yourself in that position.”

A year ago after that great week in Adelaide, Auger-Aliassime lost in five sets in Melbourne to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the second round.

But before that, he made a quarterfinals in 2022, fourth round in 2021 and 2023 and third round in 2024. So even though it’s a place he never felt comfortable when he came here as a junior, he’s embraced it in the pros.

And the lack of points to defend this year are even more incentive.