Constantly progressing, Arthur Fils is the future of French tennis. However, just a few months ago, his work could bring him a lot.
For years, we looked for the new Zidane in almost every sport, the one capable of bringing France to the top, of making an entire stadium vibrate. With Kylian Mbappé, the French football team has rediscovered its legend for years to come. In tennis, the new Yannick Noah, the last male Grand Slam winner, has been sought after since 1983. An eternity which could perhaps end in a few years with the young Arthur Fils.
After the generation of the Mousquetaires, Tsonga, Simon, Gasquet, Monfils, who made the heyday of French tennis in recent years, the younger generation has had difficulty breaking through. But with Arthur Fils, the future of French tennis could look bright. Now in the top 40 in the ATP rankings, the 19-year-old was 613th in 2021, 251 in 2022 and 36th at the end of 2023. Quite crazy and constant progression for the native of Courcouronnes (Essonne).
Before becoming the player who no longer needs any introduction, Arthur Fils had a rather busy daily life, like all young players who are starting out and who are outside the Top 100. Traveling to challenger tournaments on the other side of the world, not necessarily having the means to have a large staff around him… For all these reasons, the Frenchman continued until the start of 2023 to pursue his profession: tennis coach.
If Arthur Fils obviously can no longer give tennis lessons, his page on superprof was still active a few months ago. And its prices were rather comfortable: 130 euros for a one-hour session. A nice sum when you start working life, especially if you compare it with the gross hourly minimum wage, of 11.52 euros.
“I can help you progress, develop your tennis level (physical and mental technique) thanks to individualized sessions and on demand,” promised the 18-year-old player at the time to perfect your level of tennis. His seriousness and his real desire to satisfy was his priority since it was noted that “the first session was free”.
Being a tennis player does not necessarily mean that you can be a good coach, even if many retired players are now renowned coaches like Juan Carlos Ferrero with Carlos Alcaraz, Goran Ivanišević for Novak Djokovic and Carlos Moya with Rafael Nadal.
Several French players ranked in the ATP rankings still give lessons throughout the year. This is particularly the case of Samuel Bensoussan, 405th, Lény Mitjana who is the 46th French player on the circuit, in 458th place in the world, or even Pauline Payet who participated in Roland Garros.