Felix Auger-Aliassime’s ‘illegal shot’ controversy with Wimbledon star | Tennis | Sport

With Carlos Alcaraz absent from Wimbledon and Jannik Sinner struggling in his opening round match, Felix Auger-Aliassime may feel this is his best chance in a while to reach a first Grand Slam final. The Canadian has reached the quarter-final or beyond in all four slams, losing to eventual finalist Matteo Berrettini when he made the final eight at SW19 in 2021. More recently, though, he was involved in a controversial moment including British favourite Jack Draper.

Auger-Aliassime and Draper were facing off in the last 16 of the Cincinnati Open in August 2024. The pair exchanged sets before the Brit earned himself a match point at 5-4 in the third. That’s where the drama began, with Draper celebrating victory in the face of complaints from his opponent he had shanked the ball onto the ground on the decisive point. At first, the Montreal native refused to concede defeat, so sure was he that the point should have been his. “You’re gonna get out now, and then it’s going to be everywhere. It’s going to look ridiculous. It’s going to be crazy,” he told the umpire.

While Draper simply said he didn’t know if the ball had hit the ground for a second time before clearing the net, that didn’t stop some armchair observers giving him a hard time, while he would later concede it was an “illegal shot” which brought him victory.

“It was difficult for four or five days afterwards – it was the first time I’ve experienced criticism and [had] my integrity questioned as an athlete,” he told BBC Sport when asked about the fallout to his win. “For me it’s one of the most important things to be honest, do the right thing, be a good person – more than just a good tennis player.

“It’s freedom of speech at the end of the day, people can have their opinion and can say what they feel and think. “Do I necessarily agree with what they’re saying? No, because I was in the situation and I know my truth and that’s that I didn’t know.

“But obviously you have to respect that – it’s all part of being a great player, people are going to question you and I don’t blame them for that because when we saw the replay, it was clearly an illegal shot. It is difficult seeing that criticism but being a top athlete you are going to be subject to certain situations where you are going to receive criticism.”

Auger-Aliassime, who is seeded third at Wimbledon this week, won each of his first two matches in straight sets. He now faces Michael Zheng on Centre Court after the American qualifier stunned Cam Norrie in a five-set epic in round one.

The Canadian came in for praise from Draper for the way he handled that 2024 controversy. “I thought he handled it with great maturity and complete class,” the 24-year-old said.

“It would have been easy for him to fly off the hook and feel extremely hard done by, which he was at the end of the day, looking back at the slo-mo – it was an illegal shot in a big point in the match, obviously being match point. I know my truth and that’s that in that situation, I really did not know in that moment what had happened.”