{"id":548870,"date":"2026-03-27T17:52:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T17:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/548870\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T17:52:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T17:52:15","slug":"sidelined-from-tennis-by-injury-arthur-fils-put-in-the-work-to-return-a-contender-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/548870\/","title":{"rendered":"Sidelined from tennis by injury, Arthur Fils put in the work to return a contender"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arthur Fils<\/a> is back.<\/p>\n

He technically returned to the ATP Tour in February, playing three events and reaching the Qatar Open<\/a> final. But this month, at the BNP Paribas Open<\/a> at Indian Wells and the Miami Open, Fils has re-announced himself to the tennis world.<\/p>\n

After a quarterfinal run at Indian Wells, Fils reached his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal Wednesday, by saving four consecutive match points in a stunning quarterfinal win over Tommy Paul<\/a> on Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.<\/p>\n

Men\u2019s tennis, which has missed his exuberance, his spectacular game, and his exceptionally high top level, has one of its rising talents back again.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> last May.<\/p>\n

The match in which he sustained the injury was suitably dramatic. Fils produced a mind-bending five-set win against Spain\u2019s Jaume Munar<\/a>, coming through the injury and fatigue to haul himself over the line in front of a raucous crowd.<\/p>\n

He withdrew from the tournament the next day.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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<\/a>. With those two so far ahead of everyone else, the loss of Fils and fellow emerging talent Jack Draper<\/a> for the second half of 2025 was keenly felt.<\/p>\n

At Indian Wells, the Frenchman, now 21, offered an initial reminder of why he generates so much excitement. He won three matches without dropping a set, including a particularly impressive victory over the No. 9 seed F\u00e9lix Auger-Aliassime from 5-0 down in a second-set tiebreak, before being knocked out by world No. 4 Alexander Zverev.<\/p>\n

In California, and now in Florida with four consecutive wins, Fils has showed off his usual combination of bullet forehands, improbable retrieving, and expressive celebrations. A point to the bicep after beating M\u00e1rton Fucsovics had the Court 3 crowd in raptures at Indian Wells, while his joy at overcoming Paul was such that he had to snap himself out of it to congratulate his devastated opponent.<\/p>\n

Fils remains a long way off where he wants to be, 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, I really struggled, because you see all the guys playing, but then I felt pretty good, I felt blessed,\u201d he said during an interview after beating Fucsovics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Take this time to change your body, to feel better and to prove yourself that you are a hell of a competitor.\u2019 It\u2019s not like, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m injured, OK, I cry in my bed.\u2019 It\u2019s like, \u2018No, OK, you\u2019re injured, but you have to work on things and even though it\u2019s a very long time, you can improve.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked on a lot of things \u2014 about fitness, I change a lot, and I feel way better on the court now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not easy if the guys are playing fast on the forehand,\u201d Fils said in a news conference Tuesday about his former swing. \u201cYou can take the ball a bit behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, with the shorter swing, I play much more in front of me. Sometimes, you feel like you lack power, but in my case, it\u2019s OK. I can still hit the ball pretty hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Arthur<\/p>\n

\n Arthur Fils\u2019 Indian Wells and Miami Open campaigns have been important steps during his return from injury. (Andy Abeyta \/ The Desert Sun via Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Fils has been making other tweaks, bringing former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivani\u0161evi\u0107 onto his coaching team on an initially temporary basis. Ivani\u0161evi\u0107 couldn\u2019t be in Indian Wells but will join up with Fils for the European clay-court season, supporting main coach Ivan Cinku\u0161.<\/p>\n

Ivani\u0161evi\u0107, who has previously coached Novak Djokovic, Elena Rybakina and Stefanos Tsitsipas, has been messaging Fils the past few weeks. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty cool,\u201d Fils said in a news conference after beating Fucsovics.<\/p>\n

Fils\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were laughing about how much time we\u2019d missed, I think him probably longer than me, actually,\u201d Draper said in a news conference at Indian Wells. Like Fils, he has had a positive return from injury, defeating Novak Djokovic in the desert to reach a quarterfinal against the surging Daniil Medvedev, which he lost in straight sets.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do like to watch him,\u201d Draper said of Fils. \u201cHe\u2019s got a lot of flair and a really good attitude. He shows a lot of energy, he\u2019s gritty obviously, he competes hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fils said he was \u201cvery close\u201d with Ben Shelton, the American world No. 8, and mentioned other young players Flavio Cobolli, Jakub Men\u0161\u00edk and Jo\u00e3o Fonseca, who, like him, are trying to shake up the established order at the top of the ATP Tour. \u201cIt\u2019s very nice and I\u2019m very happy to share the big stage with those guys,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Fils has been making an impression for some time. During an interview at Indian Wells, 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou recognize talent,\u201d Haas said. \u201cYou look at where the talk is hyped up and then you see if they\u2019ve had some decent results and you want to help the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow players have described the Frenchman as a future star. \u201cHe\u2019s young, he\u2019s athletic, outside of the volley he\u2019s got all the shots,\u201d Auger-Aliassime said in a news conference after their match.<\/p>\n

In a news conference, Zverev said, \u201cI have always been a fan of him. I have always thought that he has all the talent, all the potential. If he\u2019s disciplined enough, he can go quite far, and he can compete with the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fils himself said that for now, he is focusing on his own tennis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really looking at the two other guys, they are playing great tennis, they\u2019re winning all the Slams together. I\u2019m just trying to play at my pace and to improve at my pace, then I will try to think how to beat those guys,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Arthur<\/p>\n

\n Arthur Fils\u2019 self-confidence on court translates into an aggressive, all-attacking style. (Taya Gray \/ The Desert Sun via Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

His \u201ctunnel vision\u201d has continued on court, an apt description of his recovery against Auger-Aliassime, which included a stunning backhand first-serve return, and against Paul, which required two more stunning backhands in a third-set tiebreak.<\/p>\n

Fils, an extrovert who likes to \u201creally embrace emotion,\u201d is learning to lock that down in important moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you win or when you win this point or these kinds of important points, then you can celebrate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of Fils\u2019 opponents have taken exception to this, including Zverev. During a feisty Hamburg Open final two years ago,\u00a0Fils 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.<\/p>\n

After being out for so much of last year, he has few rankings points to defend in the second half of 2026. He\u2019s world No. 32, and is looking to go past that career-high of No. 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I was playing great, but I thought it was going to take a bit more time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m happy to be back here, faster.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arthur Fils is back. He technically returned to the ATP Tour in February, playing three events and reaching…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-548870","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}