A boy from suburban Montreal, Felix Auger-Aliassime built his game around a heavy serve and an aggressive forehand, tennis played forward off the first ball. The talent was never in doubt; the finishing was. He lost his first eight tour-level finals, a run stretching from 2019 into 2021 that made him a byword for the near miss. The breakthrough came in Rotterdam early in 2022, over the top seed for a maiden trophy, and he has since gathered 10 career titles.
The bigger stage has twice opened at Flushing Meadows. In 2021 he became the first Canadian man to reach a US Open semi-final, stopped only by Daniil Medvedev; in 2025 he returned to the last four, beating Alexander Zverev along the way. He entered the top 10 in November 2021 and later climbed to a career high inside the top five, the best by a Canadian since Milos Raonic. The major, still 0 titles, has not come, but the serve keeps the door ajar.
Thirty. That is how many places Luca Van Assche gained after winning the Estoril title, from No. 78 to a career-best No. 48 in the ATP rankings. He was one of two Frenchmen with a tour-level title this week: Quentin Halys won Kitzbuhel and rose 31 places to No. 52. Neither result stirred the top of the list, where Jannik Sinner stayed unmoved at No. 1.
Ranking taleFour. That is how many men are left at Wimbledon, and no two of them arrived the same way. A favourite carrying the weight of the tag, a 39-year-old chasing one more, a wildcard chasing a fairytale, and a first-time major champion arriving as one. One draw, four separate stories.
Wimbledon notebook