ATP Montpellier I Quarter-final: Arthur Fils, ready to take off?

To set the scene a little, you should know that the bay windows of the press room of the Sud de France Arena offer a breathtaking view of the runways of Montpellier-Méditerranée airport. Okay, that’s not prime information. It’s just that by dint of seeing machines of all kinds take off there all day long, we can’t help making a kind of analogy with the way in which Arthur Fils’ career is taking , too, a magnificent flight this week on the shores of the Big Blue.

In tennis as in everything, there is art and manner. Winning your first main circuit victory at 18 is something (already not so common). Facing the child of the country Richard Gasquet, the double stack of his age and the weight that we know in French tennis, is another. Doubling down two days later is one thing. To do so by beating his first top 25, Roberto Bautista Agut, a difficult circuit official, again in two sets, giving the impression of dominating his subject from start to finish, is another. And it definitely attracts attention.

As tennis is an eternal test of confirmation, the Essonnien will have to do it again this Friday afternoon (2:30 p.m.) in the quarter-finals against Quentin Halys, another child prodigy in the past and who seems inclined, to 26 years old, to give all the fullness of the potential that we once granted him. But whatever the outcome of this fratricidal duel, we cannot blame Arthur Fils for not having honored his wildcard. Above all, there are things that will not be taken away from him.

The former finalist of Roland-Garros juniors (2021) was not content to panic the radar this week in Montpellier, with in particular a first ball at 222 km / h (personal record) which tore a smile from him. self-satisfaction. It also panics the counters. These two past rounds will earn him the first player born in 2004 or later to play in a quarter-final on the main circuit; they will also allow him to reach at least the top 150 (top 100 if he goes to the final) to become the world number 1 for the 18 years old and under, under the nose and beard of his compatriot and friend Luca Van Assche, l one of the first to congratulate him after each of his exploits.

The eternal nightcaps will quibble that it is far too early to catch fire and they will no doubt be right to remind them. Moreover, the interested party himself did it when his feats of arms were highlighted to him: “I try to detach myself from this kind of statistical information because when I see where Carlos Alcaraz or Holger Rune are, we will say that top 150 is good but it’s not much either. Well, that said, they are a year older than me. And it’s true that they are a source of motivation for me, examples to follow.”

But let’s not fall into the opposite excess of minimization either. What Arthur Fils did (does) this week in the Languedoc does not in any way guarantee that tomorrow he will be the champion that France is waiting for. But that’s not unusual either. Third youngest French player to reach a quarter-final on the main circuit since 1990 (after Richard Gasquet, Fabrice Santoro and Gaël Monfils), he has so far lost only one match in 2023, the Challenger final of Quimper against Grégoire Barrère, after having won that of Oeiras before. Without having played the first Grand Slam of the year in Australia, he is virtually 26th in the Race. It’s strong.

But the most interesting in all this is perhaps ultimately the serenity with which the player from Saint-Michel-sur-Orge welcomes his breakthrough of the week. In a press conference, his calm and poised voice contrasts with the devastating power he puts into each of his strikes. “Of course I didn’t necessarily expect to win in straight sets against Bautista Agut. But I followed my tactics well, I remained calm, serene and solid. I entered the field without any particular apprehension, I was not afraid to go into battle and I took the game on my own. It’s the way my parents raised me: not to be afraid, of anyone. I got there and I think that ‘they’re happy about that.”

In tone, exactly as on the court a little earlier, nothing is overplayed. No particular excitement. The boy simply feels out of place. And if he doesn’t set himself a particular objective for the future in terms of ranking, it’s the better not to set limits: “if I can be top 10 at the end of the year, I will not deprive myself of it.” We wouldn’t be deprived of it either.

New coach, new mental trainer

Let there be no mistake either: despite its apparent suddenness, Arthur Fils’ take-off did not fall from the sky. He had already made the reactors roar strongly at the end of last season by qualifying for the Rolex Paris Masters, the most publicized result of a regular ascent for several years. In the meantime, this pure federal product has made changes in its structure since Jérôme Potier, who polished the diamond for four years, gave way to Laurent Raymond, free again after the more or less forced end of his collaboration with Corentin Moutet, who we remember found himself at the end of 2022 deprived of federal aid.

At the same time, Fils also started a new job with the mental trainer Francisca Dauzet, the former coach of Daniil Medvedev, now seconded to the National Training Center, who helped him to “better manage important moments during matches, thanks to simple little tricks that help me stay lucid, focused. And it works very well.”

At the very least, indeed. And it’s true that after months of ambient gloom during which we spent a lot of time worrying about the generational low in French (men’s) tennis, witnessing the emergence of such a promising boy has something exciting, and even almost moving. Especially as we have said, Arthur Fils does not arrive alone, but accompanied by a good escort of promising talents including his friend Luca Van Assche, already mentioned, “with whom we have a healthy and positive emulation”. But also, to continue to speak only of the youngest, Arthur Cazaux (20 years old) or even Clément Chidekh (21 years old), two regionals of the stage who also reported themselves this week at the Open Sud de France.

It has often been noticed, in France as elsewhere, especially currently in the United States or Italy: talent always flies in a squadron. A bit like the passenger planes buzzing all day long on the take-off runway at Montpellier airport.