The New Musketeer: Arthur Fils takes on France's Roland Garros challenge

The No. 1 Read is TENNIS.com's lead story for the day—look for more of them throughout Roland Garros.

His forehand is a weapon that should be subject to registration. When he hits the kicker, the ball in flight takes on the shape of an egg. His movement is so explosive, so smooth, that at the age of 19 he dominated the NFL Combine-like competition for the ATP’s 21-and-under stars. His personality is almost as big as his 130-plus mile per hour first serve.

As another Roland Garros gets underway, rapidly-rising star Arthur Fils has just one problem: He’s French.

Fils’ homeland is good at producing talented, interesting players, but it has failed to produce a male French national champion since Yannick Noah in 1983. The mantle of hope—and the burden of an entire nation’s expectations—now rest squarely on the broad shoulders of Fils and his less well-established countrymen.

Born just 17 miles southeast of Paris, Fils was introduced to the game on a court that had more in common with Wimbledon than Roland Garros, given the grass sprouted through cracks in the cement court where his father taught him the basics.

“The court was terrible,” Fils said recently, “But it made me what I am now.”

I would say that my game is polarizing. Either you like me or not, I'll be watched anyway. I like to be explosive when I play, I love to enjoy the moments I spend on court, to have as much fun as possible and smile every time. Arthur Fils

What he is now, at No. 14, is the best of the 10 French men ranked in the ATP Top 100. On Monday at Roland Garros, Fils lit the flame of hope for his compatriots with a tidy win over Nicolas Jarry. Fils faced only three break points in the match but was never broken. He won, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (6). 6-3 in 3:27 and will next meet, Jaume Munar.

Granted, with the likes of top seed Jannik Sinner and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz running around, pondering a championship run by Fils—or anyone else outside that Top 2—requires a suspension of disbelief. But it’s an alluring exercise given that, at age 20, Fils is younger than anyone ranked above him and tops among the four others of the same age or younger in the Top 100.

“He already has a very good forehand, good speed and he makes very easy power,” Craig Boynton, the elite coach told me recently. “He plays very offensively, but he has good defense [a winning combination on clay]. He’s really good now, and there are still lots of areas where he can improve.”

Fils has emerged as a budding giant killer, too. He went 7-2 against more highly ranked Top 20 players in one growth period spanning last summer and fall, and on the eve of this year’s second major he was 14-7, those additional losses inflicted by the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, and Daniil Medvedev as Fils became a consistent challenger in later rounds. He’s been in three Masters 1000 quarterfinals this year.

“I like his game,” Brad Gilbert, the ESPN analyst and most recently coach of Coco Gauff, told me. “He plays big for his size. The next thing for him, you know, is making a deep run at a major.”

Fils is a solid 6-foot-2, so playing “big for his size” is bound to invite comparisons to at least one of the numerous French players in the long string that tried—and narrowly failed—to win the nation at Roland Garros, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. A swashbuckling, free-swinging, two-time semifinalist at RG, Tsonga was yet another talent curbed by the Big Three. The adolescent Fils has said he emulated Tsonga, and it was to good effect. Even the showman gene in Tsonga proved heritable.

“Fils is fun to watch,” Gilbert said. “He hits the ball big and he gets excited.”

Fils thrives on the attention and energy of a crowd. In the spring, he told Olympics.com, “I would say that my game is polarizing. Either you like me or not, I'll be watched anyway. I like to be explosive when I play, I love to enjoy the moments I spend on court, to have as much fun as possible and smile every time.”

I'm at home. I have the full support of the crowd. I haven’t had easy matches there recently, but I hope it'll be different this season. Fils on competing at Roland Garros

In his pre-tournament press conference in Paris, the rangy right-hander said that he never intends to put on a show. The hoopla he generates is the result of his electric style. “My way of playing, et cetera, quite often you get good points,” Fils said. “You have spectacular moments, like Ben [Shelton] or Gael [Monfils]. So, you can put us in the category of showman, but I'm not trying to be a showman.”

Having a big personality and an aggressive game position him as a big target for the expectations of the French, but also for rivals looking to make headlines as giant killers.

“Fils being French, you know there's the expectation,” Gilbert said. Referring to the men’s game, he added, “Heck, we’re (Americans) in full panic because we haven't had anyone win a major since Roddick in 2003. Well, they haven't had anyone win since Noah in '83. It's unbelievable, almost like they’ve got to get a guy who’s built a little differently to be able to handle the hometown stuff and channel all that. Because that can go both ways. I mean, it could be a huge boost or it could crush you, right?”

In the eyes of many, the pressure to perform for the home audience is exacerbated by the best-of-five-set format, which has been relegated exclusively to the four majors but still presents unique challenges physically as well as mentally.

“The only factor when it comes to that format, as I see it, is that feeling a responsibility to the entire nation is kind of crazy,” Boynton said. “Over time, that can make someone burn through a lot of emotional and nervous energy that could be better spent elsewhere.”

Fils embraces the challenge. He describes the French Open as “one of the most beautiful” tournaments in the world, if a challenging one for a potential local and national hero. He had never won a main draw match in Paris until Monday, and just one (in three unsuccessful attempts in qualifying). But he remains resolute.

“I'm at home,” he said, “I have the full support of the crowd. I haven’t had easy matches there recently, but I hope it'll be different this season.”

Welcome to the jungle. As stylish as that French crowd is, and as pretty as that terre battue looks in the sunlight, it’s still a hazardous place for French men.