FAA gets 2026 off to a winning start

Felix Auger-Aliassime (FAA) defeated Zhang in straights to get 2026 off to a good start.

The Canadian picked the season up where he left the last one off. What a fine end to 2025 he had. He’s now ranked No.5 and seems to be ready to fulfill that great potential everyone thought he had years ago. Aged 25, he’s still relatively young and in his prime. It’s easy to hype up such runs in a promising player’s career, as we did with Felix once upon a time, only to then be let down when the realities of injuries and slumps come around. Felix has an advantage though. This isn’t his first rodeo. He comes into this ‘second wind’ with a lot of experience and knowledge that he didn’t have before. Hopefully, he can use it to take care of his body and maintain a baseline level when things are going south, which at some point they will.

What is his potential? Nothing less than a slam, at any of the venues really but it’s most likely the USO, then the AO, then Wimbledon and finally RG. It’ll be tough with Sinner and Alcaraz the top dogs, but they can falter; sometimes they even get banned, or one of them does. Carlos can have his off days and Sinner has shown twice last year (RG and USO finals), he can buckle when the pressure is on. Though that was facing Alcaraz and not FAA who he leads 4-3 and has won his last four matches against. But those 3 wins are reassuring for Felix.

The problem with trying to predict like this is that tennis is really about what happens on the day. Yes, history does play a role, as does match ups, but players can improve and they can turn things around. If Felix hits top form and feels good, he can win a slam. It’s a big ‘if’, though, when you’re not one of the top two or three in recent years (or should I say decades).

Based on his talent and potential, and his great skillset with that serve and baseline game and shot-making ability, I’m backing FAA to grab a slam before his career ends.

And of course, now I’ve started hyping him again, expect an early exit for the poor Canadian this AO.