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The ATP-branded sections continue with the aim of making the history of tennis players more widely known with the aim of making more and more people passionate about tennis. This new format which takes the title of A love letter to tennis had as its first protagonist the talented Felix Auger-Aliassime who thus described his love for this sport.
He wrote: "Dear tennis, I remember you from the first day in which we met. I was three or four years old, I remember it was love at first sight. I will always remember those moments with racket in hand, going to the training ground, but our first contact was as good as it is now.
I remember when I played my first game, in Quebec City, Canada. At least it's the first one I remember, I was six years old and I was going to play that first match, it was the first time I'd have an opponent in front of me and a referee in the chair, it was all very special.
I was nervous, the classic nervousness one feels when facing something like this for the first time. When you are alone in the field and you have to find your way, your nerves destroy you, but in the end you make it, you find the solution yourself, and that's how I did it for the first time.
I remember doing well and winning that first fight, then there were many more, I think two or three until I was defeated. You have given me many different things over the years. You taught me great values such as perseverance, acceptance, resilience and of course the pleasure of competition.
Above all, there is the satisfaction of evolving and finding ways to improve. All these values are very important aspects to learn, one feels that one is growing at the same time in one's life, all these things have been taught to me by you.
I recognize that sometimes it's difficult to love you, it's like a constant love-hate relationship, you always challenge me and the rest of the players, you push us to do our best to be better every day, to know how to accept defeat.
Sometimes we doubt ourselves, that's the hardest part, but in the end it all makes sense when you end up learning something. You teach us a lot to discover ourselves, to improve ourselves as people. That's how we collected a lot of happy moments, fortunately.
The feeling of winning Rotterdam 2022 was that kind of moment where everything makes sense, that moment where the whole journey was worth it. Something clicked in my head that day, perhaps one of the strongest emotions I've ever felt on a tennis court.
I hope our bond remains healthy as time goes by, I know you will continue to challenge me every week, but I hope and wish our relationship with you to be as long as possible, to continue to grow in this sport. Love you, Felix."
