Canada's Félix Auger-Aliassime in action during his second-round match against Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff on Thursday in London.Stephanie Lecocq/Reuters
Félix Auger-Aliassime isn’t buying the theory that seeded players at Wimbledon have been afflicted by some mysterious force that has caused them to lose in early rounds this year, even though he suffered the same fate on Thursday.
Auger-Aliassime, who was seeded 25th, fell 6-3, 6-7, 3-6, 4-6, to Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff in a second-round upset that left the Canadian befuddled. He joins more than 24 seeds in men’s and women’s singles events who have lost in the first two rounds, tying a Grand Slam record. Order appeared to be restored on Thursday and he was the only seed to fall by late afternoon.
“Every Grand Slam … there’s always seeds that go out. It’s nothing new,” Auger-Aliassime told reporters after his match. “Especially nowadays, the level being pretty tight. You have a guy like Struff today, if you’re not careful, if you don’t get to take your chances, you can go out.”
Auger-Aliassime and Victoria Mboko were the last Canadians standing in singles. Mboko lost her second round match on Thursday to Hailey Baptiste of the U.S. 6-7, 3-6. Leylah Fernandez, a 29th seed, lost in the second round on Wednesday and Denis Shapovalov, seeded 27th, and qualifier Carson Branstine went out in the first round.
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It wasn’t that long ago that Auger-Aliassime, 24, and Shapovalov, 26, were the superstars of Canadian tennis. Shapovalov reached the world top 10 in 2020 and advanced to the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2021. Auger-Aliassime got as high as No. 6 in 2022 and played in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in 2021.
Auger-Aliassime, now ranked 28th, hasn’t gone beyond the second round at Wimbledon since his big run in 2021 while Shapovalov, ranked 30th, made it to the fourth round in 2023 and went out a round earlier last year. Both players have been set back by injuries and watched as other young guns, including defending Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz, pass them by.
Auger-Aliassime acknowledged that he has plateaued somewhat. “I had a very good upbringing, or like first years on the tour, improving every year my level, my ranking, everything. Not overthinking anything. So it was nice,” he said Thursday. “But then you face a few challenges, obviously at some point everybody does.”
Auger-Aliassime greets Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany at the net after defeat during the Gentlemen's Singles second round match.Dan Istitene/Getty Images
He’s had moments recently when he’s been playing well and seemed to be coming back. “But not maybe as much as I want so far. All the other guys are improving, pushing the bar higher and higher. So in order to get back to my career high, or to go even further, I’m going to have to keep on improving. So I’ll work on that, and let’s see how it goes.”
Thursday’s match illustrated his point. On paper, this should have been a straight forward win for the Canadian. Struff is 11 years older than Auger-Aliassime and sits almost 100 places lower in the world rankings at 125.
And yet it was the 35-year-old German who took control of the match, which started late Wednesday and was suspended because of fading light after each player had won a set.
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When play resumed on Thursday, Auger-Aliassime had plenty of opportunities but he couldn’t take advantage. He was up 40-15 in two games in the fourth set with Struff serving, but he couldn’t convert. Over all, he botched seven break point opportunities in the final set and lost the last game on serve. Struff meanwhile fired off eight aces in the last set, compared with just three for Auger-Aliassime, and grew in confidence with each break point he saved.
“I had my chances,” said Auger-Aliassime. “I went to bed yesterday, I was thinking, okay, I had my chances in the tie break for sure up 6-3 serving. Usually you win that nine times out of 10,” he added. “But it’s not enough. You’ve got to have more margin than this, and capitalize on those chances.”
The loss means that it will be Struff facing Alcaraz on Friday in the fourth round, not Auger-Aliassime as many expected. He’s heading to an exhibition match in Italy and then home to Canada.