Arthur Fils warns Jannik Sinner: "He kicked me, now everything is different"
Arthur Fils is the next obstacle on Jannik Sinner’s road at the Madrid Masters 1000: the French tennis player, who lost in his only previous match with the Azzurro in 2023, has shown himself to be a completely reborn player after returning from a long injury, and on clay he can count on a series of consecutive victories that allowed him to impose himself in Barcelona and to reach the semifinals in Madrid with ease.
against Jiri Lehecka Fils did not even concede a break ball in the entire match.The 21-year-old is in a great moment of form and after the match he immediately set his sights on the South Tyrolean. “My average level is very high right now. I’m not happy when someone kicks my butt, I think about him a lot. When I face that person again, I try to be the best I can be and take the revenge.”
“That’s the mentality I want to have: off the court we are all friends. But when I get on the court, I’m not there to be nice. My average level is very high right now, partly because of confidence. I have put together several wins in a row. Confidence also comes from training, we train well and hard. We had an intense week of preparation on clay before playing in Barcelona. When everything fits together like that, you always feel better. I lost a lot less energy this week than in Miami, where I had a great quarterfinal against Tommy Paul and a crazy eighth final against Vacherot.”
Fils feels ready to take on Azzurro: “Here I focused well on my previous matches against Nava, Etcheverry and Lehecka. These are matches that go quite fast although you have to stay very focused, so I lose less energy and I am ready to give everything for the last matches of the tournament. I haven’t lost a match on clay yet, and neither has he. He has a lot of confidence, but so do I. I hope it will be a good battle. Frankly, I think it will be fun! It will be a very high intensity match.”
On Jannik: “He is playing very well right now. I saw his match against Jodar, it could have turned in so many moments in Jodar’s favor, but he is very strong mentally and brought it home. I will have to be at my best from the first to the last point. I will have my chances, I will just have to be good at taking advantage of them. I have played against very good players on clay since I came back, but not yet against Sinner. I will see where I stand and draw conclusions. Win or lose, there will be a lot to learn and I’m looking forward to getting on the court. Like if anyone is on the other side, I’m going into the field to win the game and that’s it,” are the words reported by L’Equipe.
