Would he recover sufficiently to maintain his good momentum? This was the big question before Arthur Fils entered the fray in Shanghai in the second round. Unfortunately for the Frenchman, the response was negative on the court this Friday. As after his first two titles in Lyon and Hamburg, the young Frenchman was unable to continue in the wake of the third in Tokyo. Valiant but too blunt, he suffered the law of the Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena, 54th in the world, in two tie-breaks (7-6, 7-6) and exactly 2h06 of play.
He had left a lot of juice in Tokyo, beating four members of the Top 20 in a row in epic duels. Unfortunately, Arthur Fils did not have time to find his legs. Three days after his victorious final in Japan against Ugo Humbert, he stumbled on the Carballes Baena obstacle, unable to maintain the intensity required from the first to the last point to get through it. In attitude, however, he was there, fighting until the end, as if to dismiss the first two match points, before giving in on the third.
A great attitude despite everything
The strip of the net thwarted the destiny of his forehand attack, transforming it into a final guilty unforced error. Because it is at this level that he sinned: at the end of the first set alone, he had already committed no less than 27 errors, including 18 on the forehand, his strong point. In particular, he paid dearly for certain placement errors and a lack of liveliness due to fatigue. Frustrated, we also saw him throw a ball in the air when he had just been broken at the start of the second set, or completely drop his racket on the ground at the start of the second decisive game.
The fact remains that Son tried to do with the means of the day. Broken first (2-3), he reacted immediately and even obtained a first set point at 6-5 on the restart. A little late in defense, his failure on this opportunity was a reflection of what he lacked in this game. The Frenchman also caught up in the second act – going from 7-6, 3-0 against him to 7-6, 3-3 -, successfully trying to shorten the points by being more impactful. But he never really succeeded in creating a dynamic.
For what ? Quite simply because he has always been on alternating current against a very regular opponent with good ground coverage. Until the end, Fils believed in it, remaining faithful to the state of mind shown in Tokyo, but he did not have the physical means for his ambitions. This is perhaps what he still lacks: maintaining consistency in results, whatever the circumstances and sensations. Know how to win more when he plays badly. At 20, learning continues and that’s normal.
