Fils brings fun to Jeddah: 'Smiling is one of the most important things'
One year after reaching the title match Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF as the top seed, Arthur Fils returns as the lead man in the Jeddah draw once again. Still, this year’s event has a different feel for Fils, coming three weeks later in the calendar.
“This year it’s late in the season. It’s almost the new season, actually,” the 20-year-old Frenchman said on Monday. “We’ve already started to practise very hard in the preseason and everything. It’s been three or four weeks that I’m practising.”
[ATP APP]Fils is looking forward to starting his 2025 season in Hong Kong and Australia, but first hopes to take care of some unfinished business in Saudi Arabia. The timing of the event is not the only change from last year. Among the innovations and rules this week, players will warm up for three minutes — a change from no warm-ups last year but shorter than the usual five minutes on the ATP Tour. Fils is a fan of this tweak: “Three minutes is pretty good,” he said, describing it as a happy medium. “Five minutes sometimes is a bit long.”
Now a tour-level regular, Fils followed his maiden title in 2023 with a pair of trophies this year. He won a clay title in Hamburg and a hard-court title in Tokyo, saving a championship point in the final against Ugo Humbert at the latter event.
“Hamburg was unbelievable but Tokyo was crazy,” Fils said. “It was a tough week. I played against so many great players.”
He notched four Top 20 wins on his way to that ATP 500 title, beating Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton and Holger Rune before edging his countryman Humbert in the final. That result helped him climb into the Top 20 of the PIF ATP Rankings himself, with Fils ending the year at a career-high of World No. 20.
Among all of his accomplishments in 2024, one of the most crucial for Fils has been his ability to continue having fun despite the added pressure of playing at the highest level. He set a personal goal to smile during every match, and he was happy to report that he achieved that goal this season.
“That’s the most important. I think for my game it’s one of the most important things,” he said, “because if I don’t have any pleasure to be on the court then I don’t play good. I try to have fun, to enjoy the moment. When I’m like this, I know that I’m playing good.”
As for 2025, Fils revealed a more concrete pair of goals: to win at least one more ATP Tour title and finish the year with a new career-high PIF ATP Ranking. In the final act of his 2024 season, Fils will open his Jeddah campaign Wednesday against Joao Fonseca.
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