Turin, Nov 11 (IANS) Felix Auger-Aliassime, who battled a calf issue during his 7-5, 6-1 defeat to home favourite Jannik Sinner st the ATP Tour Finals, downplayed any concerns about his physical condition, says it not dangerous and he is not too much concerned about it.

After an encouraging start against the in-form Italian, Auger-Aliassime appeared to pull his left calf late in the first set while landing from a serve at 5-6. Though he continued to compete, the injury clearly affected his movement.

“No, not dangerous. I’m not too concerned. He’s an amazing player. You have to give credit when the guy is just better than you,” Auger-Aliassime was quoted by ATP Tour.

Auger-Aliassime, who is making his first appearance at the season finale since 2022, had matched Sinner through much of the opening set, but the Italian began to turn the tide to win the match.

The Canadian called Sinner toughest pmayer to beat. He said, “Today he was better than me. I’ll get ready for the next one. He’s tough to beat anywhere, especially here. He started off amazing [and] never looked back really. From the first point to the last, he was amazing. Toughest guy to beat here.”

Auger-Aliassime insisted he remains mentally strong despite the physical setback and defeat, keeping a balanced perspective about the nature of competition at the elite eight-man event.

“I’ve never been [afraid] because we’re not going to war. I do put in my mind that it’s a battle, a tennis battle. I’m very focused, very driven.

“(I’ve) never been afraid of a tennis match. [You’re] more focused when you play at this level, everything needs to be very disciplined and very precise from the first moments.”

While the loss was a tough opening blow to his Turin campaign, Auger-Aliassime will hope the calf issue settles quickly as he looks to regroup for his remaining round-robin matches, which will come against Ben Shelton on Wednesday and Alexander Zverev on Friday.

–IANS

bc/