(Reuters) - Fast-rising Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime said he will have to be more careful with his schedule in the future after pulling out of the French Open with a groin injury.
The 18-year-old, seeded 25th, said he had injured his groin playing in Lyon this week where he played in Saturday's final.
"Maybe I should be more careful in the future," Auger-Aliassime, one of several young exciting Canadians to fly up the rankings in the last year, told a news conference.
"It's true I was feeling good physically when I got to Lyon. Several players do that and do two tournaments in a row, but maybe I should learn my lesson.
"It's difficult to say why I got hurt. I'll have to see that. Nevertheless, as for everything in my career, I learn every time."
Auger-Aliassime played in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and Lyon in the buildup to the French, losing in the final in the Lyon to Benoit Paire.
He said he had felt his groin injury in his semi-final win in the French city and decided to pull out of Roland Garros following the results of an MRI scan.
"I was feeling great. And then during my semi-finals I started feeling pain in my groin. I think I'm at peace just knowing that it's something that gonna heal pretty
fast, but I have to be careful."
He said he hoped to return to the grasscourt tournament in Stuttgart next month in the build-up to Wimbledon.
"If I had played five sets on clay, I run the risk of
worsening the lesions," he said.
"This is why we decided I should pull back. And I hope I will be back in a tournament in two weeks."
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina takes his spot in the draw and will face Australian Jordan Thompson in the first round.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis)
