‘I never back down’: Arthur Fils on family, fights and France’s grand slam obsession

The young Frenchman has fought his way back from serious injury into the world’s top 20 and raised expectations for his home slam at Roland Garros Towards the end of a miserable summer last year, Arthur Fils received a message from a friend imploring him to listen to a song. Fils was soon confronted with the sound of his own name. “My friend sent me the song saying: ‘Look, they are talking about you.’ I listened and I was like ‘Oh yeah’,” he says, theatrically mimicking his excitement. “That’...

By Tumaini Carayol in Paris