The recovery will wait for Arthur Fils. While the majority of players on the ATP circuit have already flown Down Under to prepare for the Australian Open, the 21-year-old Frenchman has announced his withdrawal for the first Grand Slam lift of the season, scheduled for January 12 to February 1, 2026.
Away from the courts for five months and polluted by a stress fracture in his back aggravated at Roland-Garros, the great hope of French tennis announced the bad news this Friday evening via a video published on his YouTube channel, in which he talks about his last months of struggles.
“I still have 10-15 years of career, it’s not a race”
“I’m going to be a little short for Australia, I prefer to come back 100% rather than come back too soon,” he announced in the first episode of a web series called Renaissance – The right decision. “Being injured is part of the life of a top athlete. It takes as long as it takes, it’s not that bad. I’m 21 years old, I still have 10-15 years of career, it’s not a race”, philosophizes Arthur Fils during the video, confiding that he is on the way back after having carried out his “best MRI in six months”.
“It’s positive, we’re training well, we’re starting to push a little more in training,” detailed the 39th player in the world, who rose to 14th place last spring, who reveals that he has lost a lot of weight and has started changes in his diet to better protect his back.
A return to Montpellier at the beginning of February?
“With the means I put in now, I can win major tournaments, not just the ATP 500,” said the Frenchman, whose ambitions are still intact. “I always said that I wanted to be world number 1, to win Grand Slams, and we are doing a good job of that. »
Arthur Fils’ troubles began on May 29, 2025, when at the end of a heroic match against Jaume Munar on the Suzanne-Lenglen court, the Essonnian was forced to forfeit the rest of the tournament. After an abortive return to the courts at the beginning of August in Toronto (Canada), Ivan Cinkus’ protégé preferred to give up at the end of the season.
He was due to return to Hong Kong then Auckland before heading to Melbourne in January 2026. The next tournament scheduled on his calendar is the ATP 250 in Montpellier, from February 1 to 8.
