Turin, Nov 11 (NationPress) Felix Auger-Aliassime, who faced a calf issue during his 7-5, 6-1 loss to local favorite Jannik Sinner at the ATP Tour Finals, minimized concerns regarding his physical state, asserting that it is not serious and he is not overly worried about it.

After a promising start against the formidable Italian player, Auger-Aliassime seemed to strain his left calf late in the first set while landing after a serve at 5-6. Despite continuing to play, the injury noticeably impacted his mobility.

“No, not dangerous. I'm not too concerned. He's an incredible player. You have to acknowledge when the other player simply outperforms you,” Auger-Aliassime stated, as reported by ATP Tour.

This marks Auger-Aliassime's first appearance at the season finale since 2022, and he had kept pace with Sinner for much of the opening set before the Italian pulled ahead.

The Canadian referred to Sinner as the toughest player to defeat, saying, "Today he was superior to me. I'll prepare for the next match. He's hard to beat anywhere, particularly here. He started strong [and] maintained his momentum throughout. From the first point to the last, he was exceptional. Toughest competitor to face here.”

Despite the physical challenge and the loss, Auger-Aliassime remains mentally resilient, maintaining a balanced viewpoint about the competitive nature of the elite eight-man event.

“I've never been [afraid] because we're not going to war. I approach it as a battle, a tennis battle. I'm highly focused and motivated.

"(I’ve) never been intimidated by a tennis match. [You’re] more concentrated when competing at this level, everything needs to be meticulously disciplined and precise from the very beginning.”

While this defeat was a challenging start to his Turin campaign, Auger-Aliassime hopes the calf issue resolves quickly as he looks to regroup for his upcoming round-robin matches against Ben Shelton on Wednesday and Alexander Zverev on Friday.