Arthur Fils plays first-strike tennis built on a big serve and a forehand that mixes heavy topspin with raw pace, shots he can produce on the run. Born in June 2004 just south of Paris, he won Lyon as a teenager for his first tour title, added Hamburg and Tokyo in 2024, and climbed to a career-high No. 14 in April 2025, the clearest signal yet from France's next generation.
Then his back gave out. A stress fracture, suffered during a four-and-a-half-hour, five-set win at Roland Garros in May 2025, forced him out before a third-round meeting with Andrey Rublev, and after a premature August comeback it ended his season. The return in February 2026 answered the doubts quickly: a Doha final against Carlos Alcaraz, a Miami semi-final, and the Barcelona title, won over the same Rublev he never got to face in Paris. At 22, with 5 career titles, he is again the man French tennis expects to carry it.
Four. That is how many US Open titles Novak Djokovic has already won, and the draw made on 27 August 2026 puts him on course to meet Carlos Alcaraz, the defending champion who also won the title in 2022, in the semi-final. Both are seeded in the same half of the 128-player field; play starts on 30 August.
Draw taleEleven. That is where Arthur Fils sits in the ATP rankings now, one place outside the world's top ten, after a run to the Cincinnati title carried the 22 year old up from No. 21 and into the top 20. It is a career best for Fils, and it makes him the only Frenchman in that group.
Ranking tale