Can Felix Auger-Aliassime upstage the ‘Big Three’ at Wimbledon?

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev have long been viewed as the leaders of this generation, but Felix Auger-Aliassime – one of two Canadian youths inside the ATP top-20 – is the man making all the noise on grass.

Involved in the grass-court season for the first time, the 18-year-old seems well suited to the surface and reached the final in Stuttgart – his third tour-level final of the season – before narrowly losing to eventual champion Feliciano Lopez in the semi-finals at Queen’s.

Remarkably, he will enter the All England Club as the 19th seed despite having never completed a Grand Slam match.

His only previous appearance in the main draw of a Slam ended in retirement as a heart issue forced him to tearfully withdraw against good friend and compatriot Denis Shapovalov. He failed to qualify for the subsequent Australian Open, while he was forced to pull out of this year’s French Open.

But his impressive displays on the grass, especially at Queen’s where he defeated Grigor Dimitrov, Nick Kyrgios and Tsitsipas in the space of two days have suggested he could do some serious damage on his Wimbledon debut.

It is perhaps far-fetched to see him go all the way at the All England Club but Simon, the beaten Queen’s finalist, suggested the 18-year-old’s lack of baggage when it comes to facing Federer, Djokovic and Nadal could prove to be a major advantage.

‘Obviously he’s a great player,’ Simon, who was beaten by Auger-Aliassime in Stuttgart, said: ‘He’s gonna achieve a lot I think in his career. He’s a really, really nice guy also.

‘I think he has an advantage because already he’s better than the other one being younger. So when you are young, being like two years younger is a big difference. After that, you don’t pay attention anymore.

‘If Novak is one year or two years younger than Rafa, it’s not really important right now. But being able to perform this tennis and beat already top guys and playing so many finals already, even if you didn’t win yet a tournament, being consistent week after week, since he broke through that’s good.

‘Tsitsipas is amazing, also beating the top three guys. Not many of the young players were able to do that. It’s going to be interesting.

‘I think the first one who is gonna win a Slam is gonna have a massive advantage on the other one. Maybe Felix will be this one. Maybe other players. Maybe Tsitsipas. Could be a lot of players, because they have a very, very good generation. But you still have three guys that are tough to beat.

‘They have a huge advantage winning. Maybe it’s hard to understand this from the outside, but when you win that much, or for us when we lost that many matches against them, you know, it’s really hard. Even when some days you play better than them, you’re in position, but it’s hard to finish.

‘It’s going to be easier for younger players to do that. Sometimes you play them for the first time, you don’t know what to expect yet. You go there. You didn’t lose yet. When you lose once, twice, three times, four times to the same player, it’s really hard to win the fifth one.

‘So it can always happen. You can always have a young player playing his best game, bringing his best game and beating one of the top players. But there are still three, and from now, even if they are one more time less consistent than before, because for so many years they were in the semi-final basically every time, every tournament of the season, you still have one better than the other one right now.’

Federer added: ‘Why not? It’s going to be tough, but it can definitely happen because a man’s body is ready to win I think Slams at 18, 19. It is all a question of the body and where your game is at.

‘The mind will follow and especially when you are young, you can start dreaming big and make it happen, so it is definitely possible. It is not impossible. But it’s tough.’

‘If you are younger, you know, you recover faster,’ Djokovic said. ‘You have more I guess capacities to train and to build. So that is an advantage age-wise for sure. That’s how biology works. So, from that point of view, whether we are now or 50 years ago, 50 years from now, it is going to be the same.’

Given the three-headed obstacle in Auger-Aliassime’s way, Simon pointed out that the Canadian may be forced to wait.

‘I think you have always to be careful with history and comparison,’ the Frenchman said. ‘Having three guys so dominant, you know, on the tour for that many years, winning all the Slams will maybe never happen again. It’s quite a unique situation.

‘Roger, Rafa, Novak are still better than the other players, better than the younger players that are here. It’s of course harder to perform every week and to be 100% every time. But we could see again Rafa in French Open was just better, you know.

‘So maybe they will not win before 21 because they are still playing and performing so good, but the real question is who’s gonna win after them the first Slams? Who’s gonna be on top?’

Whether the breakthrough comes at Wimbledon or if we have to wait a little while longer, Tsitsipas is convinced it will come.

‘He’s the most difficult opponent I’ve ever faced,’ the 20-year-old Greek said. ‘He has the whole package to play big, to beat – I’m sure if he ever gets the difficult chance to play Nadal, Djokovic, or Federer, he’s going to beat them, for sure. I will not be surprised if he gets wins over those guys.’

Asked if Auger-Aliassime can go deep at Wimbledon, Tsitsipas simply stated: ‘100%.’