The Nomadic Life of Arthur Fils | ATP Tour

Nomadic Life

The Nomadic Life of Arthur Fils

Interview with the Tokyo ATP 500 finalist

September 30, 2024

Arthur Fils is one of the brightest young stars in tennis and he demonstrated it this week at the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships, where he reached the final.

The Frenchman, who is first in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, continues to learn new things about life on the Tour. And in this interview with ATPTour.com he referred to several, especially those related to the tennis player’s traveling nature.

Are there two non-sneaker essentials that you always carry with you when you’re on tour?
A speaker and city clothes.

Have you ever forgotten an important item?
If I forget my racket, of course it’s a big problem! But I think in my case I can’t play if I forget my headphones. I am always connected to music and if I forget my headphones, I will surely play badly.

What is your song to enter the track?
It depends, but there’s a lot of French rap, and there’s a French rapper called Gradur.

And do you like traveling the world or is it something you only do for work?
I’m still young, so of course I enjoy it. Maybe it’s not like that for 35 or 40 year old guys who do it because they play tennis. But I’m still young, so I love to travel, sometimes with my friends, sometimes with my family, and always with my coach. It’s very nice.

Has there ever been a time when you decided to go to a tournament just around town?
Yes, Rio. I went there because it was a dream of mine to go to Rio.

What is your favorite vacation destination?
Last year I went to Mauritius and it was incredible. This year we want to go to Oman or the Red Sea, in Saudi Arabia. It seems incredible, better than the Maldives.

And are there any routines or activities you do when you’re away to create a feeling of home?
We go out to restaurants when we can, there are some great restaurants. In London, when we go, we go to good restaurants.

How do you try to overcome jet lag? Do you have any tactics?
I can sleep whenever I want, so I don’t care. Just before coming here for this interview, I was taking a one-hour nap.

And finally, are you one of those who arrives at the airport well in advance or on time?
I’m not one to arrive very early, but the problem is that my coach is a little older, Sebastien. [Grosjean]. So you want to be there three hours before the flight, even if we have priority or whatever, you want to be there three hours before the flight. Who likes to wait for their plane?