This week on the ATP circuit, another young talent on the international scene has once again stood out, a new young promise on the launch pad. This time we are talking about the talented Frenchman Arthur Fils, an 18-year-old born in 2004 who demonstrated his talent in the French tournament and reached his first quarterfinal in an ATP tournament.
Following his victory against Richard Gasquet in the generational clash in the first round, Fils continued to impress, upsetting experienced Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut by surprise yesterday. A game without a story in which Fils brought out the best of himself with a solid 6-3, 6-4.
Before this week, the young Frenchman had never won, but now he is impressing the world, as he has throughout 2023. In fact, Fils started 2023 in the best possible way, reaching two Challenger finals, one won and one another loss.
With the victory over Bautista Fils he got into the Top 150 and is now number 141 in the world. Fils awaits the winner in the quarterfinals between the Spanish Davidovich Fokina and his compatriot Halys. In a recent interview, the 18-year-old spoke of his admiration for sports legends such as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Here are his words specifically: “Roger Federer was my idol as a child, but when you grow up you learn to appreciate Rafael Nadal, his game and his great fighting spirit.” Next, the tennis player commented on his victory over Bautista and was truly radiant: “I had a plan from the beginning, I decided to play aggressive with many winners and exploiting my serve.
Rafael Nadal is a legend
Rafael Nadal has set the most ideal example for the upcoming and future generations of tennis players to follow, according to leading tennis coach Darren Cahill. “Rafa is an amazing person, an amazing athlete,” Cahill expressed.
“You want the next generation to be little Rafa’s, don’t you? We’ve been saying it for a few years that there might be a changing of the guard and we haven’t really seen it, have we? Because Novak continues to do Novak things and Rafa won a couple of majors last year with the Aussie and the French,” Cahill stated.
“We would love some of the young guns to come through and start winning a few Majors, that would be great for the sport. But these guys are not going to give up the mantle easily,” he added.
