We’re just four weeks into 2025, but we already have our first multi-title winner on the men’s side.
When the season started, would anyone, anywhere, have predicted it would be Felix Auger-Aliassime?
Once upon a time, the Canadian, now 24, was a leading man among the Next Gen cast. By the end of 2022, he had reached No. 6, made a Grand Slam semifinal, and won back-to-back-to-back indoor titles. Well-spoken and well-mannered, he promised to be a star who could appeal to younger and more traditionalist fans alike.
But his star has dimmed in the three years since. Instead, two younger players, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, became the new faces of the game. Instead, Auger-Aliassime, slowed at times by injury but just as often by inconsistency, meandered his way out of the Top 30. Even sudden upturns in form fizzled quickly. Last May, he made a heartening run to the Madrid final, but then lost in the first round at Wimbledon and the US Open, finished the season without a title, and had to pull out of his final event with a back injury.
It’s not surprising that, at this point in his career, steadiness and work—rather than Grand Slam titles or a Top 10 ranking—are FAA’s watchwords for 2025.
