Semifinalist Auger-Aliassime: change in mentality responsible for rise

Canadian teenager Felix Auger-Aliassime has been on a rapid rise this season, going from below the Top 100 to the Top 35 with his run at Miami this week.

It's yet another step forward for the prodigy that won his first Challenger match at 14 years old. The attention he has received since affected him, he acknowledges, but a recent change in mentality has helped.

"I guess I would maybe care more about, like, the results and the expectations, and I would put maybe more pressure on myself. I think since the start of this year I made a switch," he told press at Miami. "I'm really focusing on what I have to do every day. In a way, that's how I give myself the best chances."

He's followed up on a solid 2018 season with a breakthrough in recent weeks, reaching an ATP 500 final and ATP 250 semifinal.

The 18-year-old is now the youngest player ever to reach the Miami semifinals, and has achieved some teenage stats that put him alongside the likes of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

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"It's a privilege to be compared to all these great players," he said. "But I think I'm seeing the long term, and right now I'm just enjoying every day, enjoying every match."