Auger-Aliassime has the look of a winner as he reaches the U.S. Open semi-final

Open this photo in gallery: Félix Auger Aliassime embraces Australia's Alex De Minaur after winning their quarter-final match at the U.S. Open on Wednesday.Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Félix Auger-Aliassime last made the semis of a Grand Slam in 2021, at the U.S. Open.

“Four years ago,” the Canadian said after his victory in Wednesday’s quarter-final. “It feels like more.”

It feels like even more than that. It feels like a generation ago.

Bianca Andreescu’s victory at the 2019 U.S. Open is the greatest moment in Canadian tennis, but 2021 was the greatest year.

Three Canadians made the semis of a major – Denis Shapovalov at Wimbledon, Auger-Aliassime and Leylah Fernandez at the U.S. Open. (Fernandez went on to the final.)

At the time, the three were 22, 21 and 19 years of age, respectively.

What they had in common was that they weren’t afraid of what they didn’t know. Having found out in 2021, and to different degrees, they all flinched.

That’s the only explanation for why Canada has became one of the underachievers of tennis. With all due respect to the Davis Cup and the occasional Olympic bronze, when you have a golden generation, you expect to end up with some gold.

This year was shaping up as another one of those sad trombone seasons. Victoria Mboko’s teenage exuberance notwithstanding, no major advances, tennis-wise.

Open this photo in gallery: Denis Shapovalov was confident after taking the first set off Jannik Sinner in the third round of the U.S. Open, but the top-seeded Italian had the last laugh.Elsa/Getty Images

Shapovalov chirping his own box after going up a set on Jannik Sinner a week ago captured the feel of it. These are players who don’t lose despite themselves, but because of it.

But the beauty of tennis is that you can change your whole story in a week.

That long ago, the theme of Auger-Aliassime’s 2025 was ‘Christmas can’t come soon enough.’ He blew it at the Australian Open, got jumped in the first round at the French and got dumped at Wimbledon. Elsewhere he was capable, but when you’re at his level, it’s the majors that matter.

You’d have forgiven the guy for wanting to get into Flushing Meadows and get out. Win a respectable couple of rounds and go somewhere warm to work on his game. Getting a brutal draw can’t have helped his outlook.

But all of a sudden, Auger-Aliassime is a gamer again. He stared down world No. 3 Alexander Zverev – a man on an unlikely redemption tour – in the third round. He brushed mercurial Russian Andrey Rublev aside in the fourth. Comparatively, that’s a fantastic slam for Auger-Aliassime.

On Wednesday, he faced his Australian doppelganger, Alex de Minaur. De Minaur’s game is different, but his reputation is identical – a lavishly talented individual who cannot win the big one.

In fairness, neither seemed to want to on Wednesday. The match swung back and forth over more than four hours. It seemed fated to go to five sets, and end in some way that destroyed the confidence of the loser.

Leading two sets to one, down 4-1 in the fourth set, the announcers temporarily gave up on Auger-Aliassime. This one was guaranteed to go the distance.

Open this photo in gallery: Down 4-1 in the fourth set, Auger-Aliassime rallied to win the match in a tie-breaker, dispatching Alex de Minaur 4-6, 7-6, 7-5, 7-6.Mike Frey/Reuters

That’s when Auger-Aliassime slipped whatever half-hearted hold De Minaur had on him and reversed the pressure. It got to a tiebreak. Neither player looked great. Between them, they served four double-faults in the 11-point breaker.

But for the first time in what seems like forever, Auger-Aliassime bent, and then broke his opponent. He absorbed pressure and returned it. He expected to win the freakish points. When he didn’t, he didn’t get down on himself.

The 25-year-old always looks world class, but on Wednesday, in a frequently sloppy match, he looked like a winner.

Now we get to the crux of things.

Auger-Aliassime has the all-around game to win big matches. He has the ability to hit big, but move like he’s small. He has a lethal weapon in his forehand. He should have won a slam by now.

Unless he’s waiting for Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner to trip into each other at the player canteen and miss six months of tennis, he’s not going to get a better chance that this one, right now.

On Friday, he’ll play the winner of Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti in the semis. As this is published, that match has not finished. I’m going to make a non-bold assumption about how it ends.

The glass-half-empty view is that the upcoming match is unwinnable for the Canadian. Sinner has won four of the past seven majors. Aside from that errant set against Shapovalov, he’s bulldozed his way through this tournament.

The glass-half-full view is that Drake has bet a bunch of money on Sinner to take the title. That is the 21st-century version of sticking pins in a doll. Even Sinner must have wilted a little when he heard.

Open this photo in gallery: A spectator sketches Arthur Ashe Stadium during play between Félix Auger-Aliassime and Alex de Minaur, of Australia, during the quarter-final round of the U.S. Open on Wednesday in New York.Yuki Iwamura/The Associated Press

If Auger-Aliassime ends up facing Musetti, my apologies. Also, woo hoo for Canada.

Either way, is it right to call in sick on Friday, just a week after summer ends? No. Will you still do it? Maybe.

Canada has produced some wonderful men’s players over the last 10, 15 years, but it’s hard to pick out a signature match. Maybe it’s Milos Raonic beating a banged-up Roger Federer in the 2016 Wimbledon semis. Maybe it’s Shapovalov announcing himself by beating Rafael Nadal at the Rogers Cup in 2017. Great encounters, but only a championship will do.

Auger-Aliassime’s match on Friday will be the most hyped Canadian tennis match in years.

Just getting this far is something. It shows that he has the will to win not just a big one, but multiple big ones in a single tournament.

But if he wins again? Then a recent history of Canadian tennis that seemed like it was settled gets a serious edit, and maybe even a rewrite.

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