Bartoli on Fils: “His body is extremely fragile” and Paris “not the most important”

Marion Bartoli believes there is more at stake for Arthur Fils than the Rolex Paris Masters. Speaking on Sunday on RMC’s Les Grandes Gueules du Sport, hours before the Frenchman’s press conference in Paris, the 2013 Wimbledon champion pointed to his body. Fils retired from his Basel quarter-final against Taylor Fritz on Friday, trailing 6-2, 2-0.

“With Arthur Fils, his biggest worry, and we know it, is that he has this extremely fragile body and he is only 22,” she said. “For me, whether he plays the Rolex Paris Masters today or not is not the most important thing in his career.”

Bartoli recalled the weight of his last few months: Montreal, Cincinnati, the US Open, Tokyo, Shanghai, Brussels and Basel, for a player who was out for seven months between the end of last season and the start of this one, and who missed Roland-Garros. “With a career that must last at least another ten years, I hope, you have to be a little bit careful,” she said.

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She did not rule him out of Paris. “If he feels able to play the Rolex Paris Masters, of course he will go. He wants to play in front of his home crowd, he has a bye in the first round,” she said. She also pointed to the Nitto ATP Finals, where she sees his place as “almost assured” and where, without Jannik Sinner, “there is a possibility, especially indoors, to get out of the group.”

“His goal for the season is elsewhere, but above all his career goal is elsewhere,” she concluded. “You have to zoom out on a career.”