Felix Auger-Aliassime‘s 2026 Australian Open ended in heartbreak. The Canadian was forced to retire from his opening round match, bringing his tournament to a crushing halt before it really got started.
It’s especially tough timing for the 25-year-old.
He’d been riding high after a really strong second half of 2025. After struggling for about 18 months, Auger-Aliassime finally found his form again and even qualified for the ATP Finals.
| Name | Age | Points | Stats 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Felix Auger-Aliassime | 25 | 2,075 | 20 - 13 |
The highlights? He made it to the 2025 US Open semifinals and reached the Paris Masters final.
That Paris final, though, was where his current problems started. A leg injury made it impossible for him to compete properly against Jannik Sinner. He lost that match 0-6, 2-6 – basically couldn’t even put up a fight.
The injury strikes again
Against Nuno Borges at Melbourne Park, things started well enough. Auger-Aliassime took the first set 6-3 and looked like he might be okay.
But that same leg injury came back.
"I could barely run properly," he explained later. Even though he stayed competitive in the next two sets, losing them 4-6, 4-6, he knew continuing wasn’t worth it.
At 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, he called it quits and handed Borges the victory.
What’s really frustrating for Auger-Aliassime is that he doesn’t totally understand what’s going wrong. During his press conference afterward, you could see how upset he was about the whole situation.
“I want to be on the court competing with my opponent. I don’t want to be just standing there, you know, like a punching bag. So there’s no point. I don’t have all the answers now. I’m trying to be very professional at everything I do, prepare well. I love this sport, and I love to play. So I try to do everything I can in my control to get ready.”
The uncertainty is eating at him.
“It hurts even more, because you know, if I wasn’t really ready or I wasn’t doing everything, then you have to be honest with yourself. But even with being honest with myself, I’m not totally finding the reasons why this is happening. It wasn’t happening in the past, so I’ll have to figure it out.”
For someone who’s done everything right in terms of preparation, not having answers has to be incredibly frustrating.
The timing couldn’t be worse for his 2026 season either. He’s got a lot of points to defend later in the year from that strong 2025 finish. His best shot at climbing the rankings was probably going to come in these early months.
Now he’s back to square one, trying to figure out what’s wrong with his leg and when he’ll be able to compete at full strength again.
More withdrawal woes at Melbourne
Auger-Aliassime wasn’t the only big name missing from the 2026 Australian Open action.
Matteo Berrettini pulled out before his first match even started. The Italian was dealing with pain in his obliques – the same problem that bothered him during 2025.
For a guy who’s had such bad luck with injuries over the past few years, having this issue pop up again can’t be encouraging.
Jack Draper also had to withdraw before the tournament began. He hasn’t played since the first round of the 2025 US Open because of an arm injury. Even though he’d hoped to be back for the start of 2026, his body just wasn’t ready.
It’s pretty frustrating for tennis fans when you lose that many quality players before the tournament really gets going.
