Arthur Fils has made his top-ten debut this week in the ATP rankings, and celebrated it by being forced into qualifying for the Tokyo Open.
Having won the event back in 2024 but been unable to participate last year due to injury, this season has represented the best of his career thus far, both in terms of results and fitness.
He has maintained a solid level throughout the campaign, despite a few fitness hiccups, and has been rewarded for that with a new ranking milestone.
And yet, despite this, due to an administrative error by his team, Arthur Fils had to fight for his spot in the main draw of this ATP 500-level event.
He has now explained exactly what went wrong.
Arthur Fils explains how he ended up in the Tokyo Open qualifying
Chatting with Tennis TV after emerging through qualifying, he admitted that the mistake was made as they tried to take their time on the decision.
Fils revealed: “We didn’t know if I was going to play Tokyo. It was: ‘Yes, no, yes, no, we don’t know.’ We made the decision after my game at the US Open, but it was six or seven hours too late [to meet the registration deadline].
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“So we said to ourselves, ‘OK, if we want to play, we have to go through the qualifications’, then: ‘OK, let’s take up this challenge.’ It’s not easy, but now I’ve qualified, so everything is fine.”
Despite it having worked out well, he did also admit: “I think it was one of my toughest challenges of the year, to be honest. You arrive as a new player of the top ten, and you come to play the qualifiers of an ATP 500, in a tournament that I won. So I was very tense, because, in a way, you have no right to lose.
“The first set went so fast, in 20 minutes, 6-2 for him. I thought to myself, “OK, I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I have to find a way.”
Gael Monfils recently backed Fils to challenge for Grand Slam titles in the near future, and this year has certainly aided that suggestion.
Arthur Fils reacts to making his top ten debut
Speaking on-court straight after his opening-round win over Luca Van Assche, Fils then spoke about how it felt to finally be inside the top ten.
His answer was rather reserved, but he did insist: “Yeah, I mean, it’s pretty cool. It’s pretty cool to play as a top ten.”
This year’s Cincinnati Open champion explained what has already changed: “You are coming a bit differently, let’s say, on the court, but very, very happy with the way I behaved on the court.”
