{"id":84579,"date":"2025-05-30T23:29:29","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T03:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=84579"},"modified":"2025-05-30T23:29:29","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T03:29:29","slug":"arthur-fils-injury-ends-french-hopes-early-at-roland-garros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/05\/30\/arthur-fils-injury-ends-french-hopes-early-at-roland-garros\/","title":{"rendered":"Arthur Fils\u2019 Injury Ends French Hopes Early at Roland Garros"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The top ranked French male player, Arthur Fils, won&#8217;t have a chance to let the French crowd lift him into the second of the week tournament. An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6393715\/2025\/05\/30\/tennis-french-open-arthur-fils-out-injury\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">unspecified injury<\/a>, likely to his lower back, has forced him to give Andrey Rublev a walkover into the round of 16 in Paris. Fils was locked into a five set war with Jaume Munar in round 2, and used his creative style of tennis to blast past Nicolas Jarry in the opening round in four sets.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2217782014\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.66667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/2217782014?et=5Rxi9Ww_QG9jH6OOvhKSWg&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=6DEqImLKGycuD0i_Rwt9GgAh6hYj4szivkeurJ8Fdy0=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The talented 20 year old is picking up a baton left by the likes of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/05\/30\/richard-gasquet-the-retirement-of-a-french-artist\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Richard Gasquet<\/a>, who retired from professional tennis after a second round defeat, and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/05\/27\/gael-monfils-makes-two-decades-of-magic-at-the-french-open\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Gael Monfils<\/a>, who battled and created more Monfils magic, but couldn&#8217;t <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/05\/30\/defeat-of-home-hero-monfils-is-another-major-step-for-draper\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">get past #5 Jack Draper<\/a>. At 38, Monfils is one of the most accomplished French players of all time, but realistically, it would be a modern miracle to see him win a Grand Slam singles title after all these years.<\/p>\n<p>France is a hotbed for professional tennis, having won the Davis Cup in 2017, and boasts ten current players in the ATP top 100, including some of the game&#8217;s best players under 25 years old. The home of red clay tennis, and numerous ATP tournaments played on both clay courts and indoor hard courts\u2014including the Paris Indoor Masters\u2014French people care deeply about the sport and make themselves vocal during matches, especially at the French Open, and especially when a French player is on court. However, many French citizens have never seen one of their own win the French Open. It&#8217;s been 42 years and counting since Yannick Noah won France&#8217;s only singles title at the French Open in the Open Era. Noah became a national hero and remains one of the nation&#8217;s greatest sportsmen.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1232068842\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.66667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1232068842?et=tkVdzJ9-T-pZ5Ri5WfGBKw&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=CMP111Mvfsef19qFaXJgqXH5IvWhACFOSz22-_nlSoI=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>While France\u2019s national pride soared with its 2018 FIFA World Cup victory, tennis is still awaiting a new hero to deliver similar glory on home soil.<\/p>\n<p>The retirement of Richard Gasquet marks the end of an era in French tennis, even as Monfils continues his valiant fight. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2022\/05\/24\/five-best-moments-of-jo-wilfried-tsonga-career\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Jo-Wilfried Tsonga<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/02\/04\/daniil-medvedev-parts-ways-with-coach-gilles-simon-after-one-year\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Gilles Simon<\/a>, both instrumental in France\u2019s Davis Cup campaigns, retired in 2022. Tsonga reached a career-high ranking of world No. 5, winning two Masters titles and reaching the 2008 Australian Open final. Simon was known for his resilience and competitive spirit, reaching a career-high of No. 6 without advancing beyond the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam. Gasquet peaked at No. 7 and made it to three Grand Slam semifinals during his career.<\/p>\n<p>Apart from Tsonga\u2019s 2008 Australian Open final appearance, only Henri Leconte, who reached the 1988 French Open final, has competed in a Grand Slam final while proudly carrying the French tricolor. Leconte fell to Mats Wilander of Sweden in that final.<\/p>\n<p>Other French men at this year\u2019s French Open exited earlier in the tournament. Ugo Humbert, despite battling injury, carried the nation\u2019s hopes but fell in the early rounds. Quentin Halys pushed fifth seed Holger Rune to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/05\/30\/french-open-day-6-mens-recap-higher-seeds-shine-khachanov-paul-epic\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">five sets in the third round<\/a> but ultimately lost after leading 2-1. Novak Djokovic defeated Corentin Moutet comfortably in the second round. Hugo Gaston withdrew due to injury, while Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard struggled on surfaces less suited to their games.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/169856519\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.66667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/169856519?et=z4fNyQMYT4d4VbJMCZA9Xw&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=XRjR3TgIWjftJad2nReyk7ObdGogcD8vScR9r3vDW_I=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Although the French Tennis Federation continues to develop a strong pipeline of talent, the next generation will have to wait for their chance to step out of the shadows and deliver the ultimate prize for France, a French Open men\u2019s singles champion.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-<em>USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The top ranked French male player, Arthur Fils, won&#8217;t have a chance to let the French crowd lift him into the second of the week tournament. An unspecified injury, likely to his lower back, has forced him to give Andrey Rublev a walkover into the round of 16 in Paris. Fils was locked into a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1442,"featured_media":65882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2,9],"tags":[42933,42975,13556,18371,10566,10889,6340,204,189,144,1467,18755,10391,314,390,190,896,3638],"class_list":["post-84579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-french-open","category-featured","category-news","tag-2025-french-open","tag-2025-roland-garros","tag-alexandre-muller","tag-arthur-fils","tag-arthur-rinderknech","tag-benjamin-bonzi","tag-corentin-moutet","tag-french-open","tag-french-tennis","tag-gael-monfils","tag-gilles-simon","tag-giovanni-mpetshi-perricard","tag-hugo-gaston","tag-jo-wilfried-tsonga","tag-quentin-halys","tag-richard-gasquet","tag-roland-garros","tag-ugo-humbert"],"modified_by":"Steen Kirby","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84579"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84580,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84579\/revisions\/84580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}