INDIAN WELLS, CALIF. — Arthur Fils is back.
He technically returned to the ATP Tour last month, playing three events and reaching the Qatar Open final. But here at the BNP Paribas Open, where Fils is into the quarterfinals, it feels like he has truly reemerged.
Men’s tennis, which has missed his exuberance, his spectacular game, and his exceptionally high top level, has one of its rising talents back again.
Before beginning his comeback at the Open Occitanie in Montpellier, France, in early February, Fils had only played one tournament (the Canadian Open in August) in nine months, after a stress fracture in his lower back at the French Open last May.
The match in which he sustained the injury was suitably dramatic. Fils produced a mind-bending five-set win against Spain’s Jaume Munar, coming through the injury and fatigue to haul himself over the line in front of a raucous crowd.
He withdrew from the tournament the next day.
At the time, Fils was 20, ranked at a career-high of No. 14, seemingly not far away from challenging Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. With those two so far ahead of everyone else, the loss of Fils and fellow emerging talent Jack Draper for the second half of 2025 was keenly felt.
At Indian Wells, the Frenchman, now 21, has offered a reminder of why he generates so much excitement. He has won three matches without dropping a set, including a particularly impressive victory over the No. 9 seed Félix Auger-Aliassime from 5-0 down in a second-set tiebreak. It’s been the usual combination of bullet forehands, improbable retrieving, and expressive celebrations. A point to the bicep after beating Márton Fucsovics had the Court 3 crowd in raptures.
Next up is a last-eight meeting Thursday with Alexander Zverev, the world No. 4 who has tried and failed to break up the duopoly at the top of the men’s game.
Fils, too, is a long way off, evidenced by the 6-2, 6-1 hammering he took from Alcaraz in the Qatar Open final a few weeks ago. But he is surprised by how quickly he has gotten back into his groove after so long out, having resolved to use the time away from the sport positively.
“First, I really struggled, because you see all the guys playing, but then I felt pretty good, I felt blessed,” he said during an interview after beating Fucsovics.
“I said, ‘Take this time to change your body, to feel better and to prove yourself that you are a hell of a competitor.’ It’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m injured, OK, I cry in my bed.’ It’s like, ‘No, OK, you’re injured, but you have to work on things and even though it’s a very long time, you can improve.’
“I worked on a lot of things — about fitness, I change a lot, and I feel way better on the court now.”
Fils also worked on his game. He remodeled his forehand, changing the preparation and takeback to be lower and less horizontal, bringing his right arm closer to his body. That has shortened his swing, making it harder for opponents to rush him.
Draper similarly used his six months off the tour to alter his serve, while Holger Rune has also returned to training from a ruptured Achilles tendon with a more compact forehand.
“It’s not easy if the guys are playing fast on the forehand,” Fils said in a news conference Tuesday about his former swing. “You can take the ball a bit behind.
“Now, with the shorter swing, I play much more in front of me. Sometimes, you feel like you lack power, but in my case, it’s OK. I can still hit the ball pretty hard.”
Arthur Fils’ Indian Wells campaign has been an important step during his return from injury. (Andy Abeyta / The Desert Sun via Imagn Images)
The Fils forehand was firing against Auger-Aliassime. He hit it faster than his average, as well as with more topspin, and used it effectively to cage Auger-Aliassime in his backhand corner.
Fils has been making other tweaks, bringing former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanišević onto his coaching team on an initially temporary basis. Ivanišević couldn’t be in Indian Wells but will join up with Fils for the European clay-court season, supporting main coach Ivan Cinkuš.
Ivanišević, who has previously coached Novak Djokovic, Elena Rybakina and Stefanos Tsitsipas, has been messaging Fils this week. “It’s pretty cool,” Fils said in a news conference after beating Fucsovics.
Fils’ return has been well-received by the locker room. He gets on well with Draper, who is three years older at 24, and they have shared stories from their lengthy layoffs.
“We were laughing about how much time we’d missed, I think him probably longer than me, actually,” Draper, the defending men’s champion at Indian Wells, said in a news conference after reaching the fourth round on Monday. Like Fils, he has had a positive return from injury this week, defeating Novak Djokovic Wednesday night to reach a quarterfinal against Daniil Medvedev.
“I do like to watch him,” Draper said of Fils. “He’s got a lot of flair and a really good attitude. He shows a lot of energy, he’s gritty obviously, he competes hard.”
Fils said he was “very close” with Ben Shelton, the American world No. 8, and mentioned other young players Flavio Cobolli, Jakub Menšík and João Fonseca, who, like him, are trying to shake up the established order at the top of the ATP Tour. “It’s very nice and I’m very happy to share the big stage with those guys,” he said.
At Indian Wells, Fils has been making an impression for some time. During an interview this week, tournament director Tommy Haas remembers offering Fils a wildcard when he was only 18. Fils ended up not being able to accept it, but Haas named Maria Sharapova, Naomi Osaka and Fonseca as other youngsters to receive one.
“You recognize talent,” Haas said. “You look at where the talk is hyped up and then you see if they’ve had some decent results and you want to help the next generation.”
Fellow players have described the Frenchman as a future star this week. “He’s young, he’s athletic, outside of the volley he’s got all the shots,” Auger-Aliassime said in a news conference after their match on Tuesday.
In a news conference Tuesday, Zverev said, “I have always been a fan of him. I have always thought that he has all the talent, all the potential. If he’s disciplined enough, he can go quite far, and he can compete with the best.”
Fils himself said that for now, he is focusing on his own tennis.
“I’m not really looking at the two other guys, they are playing great tennis, they’re winning all the Slams together. I’m just trying to play at my pace and to improve at my pace, then I will try to think how to beat those guys,” he said.
Arthur Fils’ self-confidence on court translates into an aggressive, all-attacking style. (Taya Gray / The Desert Sun via Imagn Images)
His “tunnel vision” has continued on court, an apt description of his recovery against Auger-Aliassime, which included a stunning backhand first-serve return. Fils, an extrovert who likes to “really embrace emotion,” is learning to lock that down in important moments.
“When you win or when you win this point or these kinds of important points, then you can celebrate,” he said.
“I like sometimes to celebrate, sometimes to get a bit mad. Well, of course the goal is to never get mad, but I like to embrace the emotion.”
Some of Fils’ opponents have taken exception to this, including Zverev. During a feisty Hamburg Open final two years ago, Fils won the match, but Zverev was annoyed about what he felt was a disrespectful underarm serve toward the end of the third set. Zverev made his feelings clear at the change of ends, and then at the end of the match with a frosty handshake, but the pair quickly made up.
Fils is now looking forward to a second quarterfinal here. After being out for so much of last year, he has few ranking points to defend in the second half of 2026. He’s world No. 32, and is looking to go past that career-high of No. 14.
“I knew I was playing great, but I thought it was going to take a bit more time,” he said.
“But I’m happy to be back here, faster.”