MUTUA MADRID OPEN

May 1, 2026

Arthur Fils

Press Conference

J. SINNER/A. Fils

6-2, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: English and then French.

Q. What was the biggest challenge you faced today against Sinner?

ARTHUR FILS: My serve (laughing). My serve. The numbers were pretty bad. But of course, no, jokes aside, he's a great champion. He didn't lose one match since Indian Wells maybe. He's playing great, a lot of confidence. He hit the ball pretty clean from both sides, and he was serving very good as well.

I mean, it was, of course, the first set was very good for him, a bit tough for me. I had to get used to his ball speed, it's different when you play for full match. I mean, I played some great, great opponents, but it's still different, you know. When I'm stepping on the court against him, I feel like I play a great tennis, but it's not enough.

Then the second set was way better from my side. I would say I got maybe some more chances, but didn't took it. But, yeah, a lot of things to talk about.

Q. Curious about your serve then. Obviously you were struggling with it from the beginning, you couldn't make many first serves. Why do you think that was the case, and how much was that from you, or was it the pressure from him being aggressive on your second serve?

ARTHUR FILS: Well, I don't know (laughing). I don't know. I was trying to figure it out on the court. I was like, Okay, well, first set you don't put any first serves, so maybe try to mix, try to do some kick serves. And I did it pretty good.

Then 4-All arrive (laughing). And then, I don't know, it's like all black in my head. I tried to do ace again and I'm like, Arthur, are you stupid or what? Change something. But, no, I mean, I don't know, when it happens like this it took me too long to adapt and to react.

In the next matches I hope first it's not going to arrive, and if it arrives then I just need to react quicker.

Q. Talking about your serve in that first set and where he was standing, he was very aggressive. What does that feel like when he's getting so far into the court and jumping on the balls?

ARTHUR FILS: Well, of course, it makes more pressure when the guy steps in than step back. Well, depends on the guy, but him especially. But didn't really bother me on my second serve. That was quite okay. I mean, it was more the first serve the case.

The second serve he was stepping in, but I was not doing double fault. Maybe I did one or maybe two, but it was okay. It was just the first serve, I was like, I was trying to go for too much, I guess, because I wanted to have easy points. Against those players, the top, top, top, best players in the world, easy points is not coming. I thought I was going to serve like, I don't know, in the second round or my third round, and going to ace a little bit and use the serve, plus the forehand. But, yeah, today it didn't happen.

Q. The season is being well for you. Tell us a little bit about cooperation with Goran Ivanisevic, your coach from February, how it's going, and is he focusing on the serve similar like he was doing in the beginning with Novak, and then tell us a little bit about it.

ARTHUR FILS: (Laughing). If we are focus on the serve then today was not a good day. But, no, no. We are doing a great job. I think with Goran he's helping me a lot with his experience. Of course, I mean, I did, since two years, I did one hell of a job with Ivan as well, and they are close friends. So it's pretty easy to work with both of them. But, yeah, since Goran arrive also I have another way to see the things, you know. It's pretty good. Both of them I'm working very good with them.

Yeah, since we start, I mean, of course we start in Doha, but it was just couple of days, and Ivan was there. But in Barcelona and now in Madrid we did a hell of a job and very happy with that. I hope we're going to keep going like this because it's pretty good.

Q. You've been back for three months now. I think you've had a lot of new experiences both like in terms of managing yourself physically also the results. Curious, have you learned anything new about yourself in this period?

ARTHUR FILS: That's a hell of a question, man. I'm a quick learner. I can learn the things pretty quick. In Miami I said that I was wasting too much energy on the court. And then I came back in Barcelona and Madrid completely different. So quick learner.