Food Court: What is the one dish Felix can't be without?

A five-time tour-level titlist, Felix Auger-Aliassime has enjoyed a lot of success in the early stages of his career.

But what is the diet behind the Canadian’s triumphs? ATPTour.com sat down with the 23-year-old at the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam to discuss his go-to pre-match meal, his mum’s favourite dish, his guilty pleasure and much more…

Let’s say you have to cook something, what would you cook for dinner and why?
I'm very lucky, I have to say my parents, whenever they're with me, they cook really well. So it makes it easy. My sister as well. So I'm very lucky with that. But if I have to cook, I like to just prepare a mixed salad, pick my veggies at the supermarket, kind of have that already, or like a soup and boil a few veggies in the water and just put them in a mixer. It's quite quick. I would start with an appetizer like soup.

Then usually pasta is easy. I love pasta with pesto. I'll just grab a piece of protein, maybe turkey or chicken or fish or salmon and grill it on the pan and that's it.

Do you want to try and learn to cook more things?
If I have time, it's even nice sometimes, like on a weekend with family, my girlfriend, you take the time to cook something more special or cook a dessert and look at a recipe and kind of follow a recipe.

During the week, it's not fun. I kind of just do it. You try to, especially as an athlete, to have everything you need in terms of nutrition and not lose too much time. It's not that enjoyable when it's just cooking to eat.

Is there a meal from your childhood that you still enjoy?
My mum has a few dishes that she likes to make. She makes amazing soups, so any soup that she makes I love. It is a butternut squash soup with coconut and ginger. It doesn't sound fancy or anything, but it hits every time. It is my favourite meal.

It is just different when other people make it or I have it out. It doesn't have the texture or the seasoning. She does it really good. I'm looking forward to the next time she'll be around so she can make it.

What’s your guilty pleasure? Would you eat it every so often or very rarely?
My guilty pleasure, because I don't usually eat a lot of bread or cheese, is pizza. It is a rare treat for me because it combines both. On a vacation I love a good Italian pizza.

Do you eat something specific the night before a match, or does it not matter so much?
I usually go with a lean protein, no sauce. Either fish or chicken and some veggies and white rice. I feel like it's just easier for me to eat that than plain pasta because I don't want to have sauce. Between plain rice and plain pasta, I prefer to just eat plain rice.

During a match, what is you snack routine?
Gels for carbs for me. If I ate not too long before the match, I don't feel like I need the gels. But if I do, if it's in the middle of the afternoon and the meal is kind of a couple of hours ago, I keep those gels in my bag to have between sets.

And then a banana as well, once in a while if I'm hungry. But the gels usually do it. If I'm not hungry at all, if I feel like my stomach's full, I just drink and that's enough.

Does it differ between when you are playing best-of-five compared to best-of-three?
Three out of five is a different game. You have to be ready for the match to be long. Sometimes playing for hours when your last meal was a long time ago. Because you don't want to step on the court being full, so you kind of eat two hours before the match. And if the match lasts four hours, then by the end you can be quite hungry. So that's when I come even more prepared. There are always bananas and gels on court.

How hard is it to stay strict with your diet for an extended period of time?
I'm quite used to it now, it's kind of a habit that I've built. It's more of a lifestyle than one week on, one week off. I think it's just part of my life now. I've always been very lucky to grow up in a family where my dad was in sports and eating healthy was kind of a part of the lifestyle, so it's never been too much of an issue. But I do enjoy some time to just eat a treat and not care too much. But the discipline of it is not too hard for me.