Fils could have missed out on his biggest title: "To be honest, I didn't want to play Hamburg".

Le 21/07/2024 à 21h14 par Guillem Casulleras Punsa

Arthur Fils almost missed out on what is now the biggest title of his young career, the one he won on the clay of Hamburg (ATP 500) this Sunday

In fact, the 20-year-old Frenchman was not planning to play the tournament, in order to continue his vacation with friends before devoting himself to two weeks' training in preparation for the Paris Olympics.

It took all the persuasive power of Sébastien Grosjean (his coach) and Lapo Beherini (his physical trainer) to convince him to change his mind. This is what he told us before the final he won against Alexander Zverev (6-3, 3-6, 7-6 [1]).

Arthur Fils: "To be honest, I didn't want to come to Hamburg. I was on vacation with my friends. Then Sébastien Grosjean and Lapo Beherini called me and said, 'We think it would be a good idea to play in Hamburg.'

And I said: 'Are you sure?My plan was to train for two weeks and then go to the Olympics. And then finally, I got here, I'm in the final (he won the title by beating Zverev) and so I'm very happy to have come.

It was my last tournament before the Olympics. It gives me a lot of confidence. And it's really good for me to play on clay. It's good to play a few matches before a big event like the Olympics."

He really didn't seem very happy to me at the trophy ceremony. I don't quite understand what zverev's problem was after the match and why he didn't want to shake hands properly... Couldn't be that he was protesting about an underarm serve I hope not that would make zverev look really stupid.

Congratulations Fils!

He actually called Fils out as they crossed when they sat down at the end of the game, saying to him that he had zero respect for playing the underarm serve, words were exchanged & when Fils sat down, the chair umpire actually admonished Fils for having replied to Zverev, when it was Zverev he started the argument.

Fred, please read my reply posted later.