"It's a dangerous injury and we'll need to keep being careful," warns Fils before his return to competition
Arthur Fils is back on the ATP circuit. After a two-month absence due to a stress fracture in his back sustained during Roland Garros, the 21-year-old Frenchman missed the entire grass season but is set to compete in the Masters 1000 in Toronto.
The world number 21 will be entering the tournament against either Pablo Carreño Busta, a former winner in Canada three years ago, or Liam Draxl. In a pre-tournament press conference, Fils discussed his injury and emphasized that caution is still necessary.
"I missed the circuit. Two months is quite long. I only picked up tennis again ten days ago, so it hasn't been much. It's nice to be back on the circuit, it's good to see friends again, familiar faces.
When I'm not on the circuit, I have another life, at home, with my friends. I did an MRI and normally, it's 100% good. Everything is fine but it's a somewhat dangerous injury and we'll need to keep being careful.
I'm really happy to play again, I feel better and better each day. I can't wait to be back on a court, do my best, and hear the crowd shout my name.
Injuries are part of an athlete's life. I have no choice, it's part of my life and I'll have more injuries throughout my career, although I hope they won't be too severe.
Here, we didn't rush by not playing Wimbledon; we might have been supposed to resume in Washington, but we felt it was way too soon. We'll see how it goes here.
It's really a preparation tournament, to play matches again, find the competition, the level of play, and the adrenaline. When you don't play tennis for that long, at first movements are a bit difficult because you lose the habit.
Moreover, conditions are somewhat special here, with balls that fly a lot, but it feels good to be back. Since my arrival (Wednesday), I've had good training sessions with Griekspoor, Etcheverry, Shang... At first, it seems like the guys play super fast, but you quickly get used to it," Fils explained to L'Équipe.
National Bank Open 
