Tennis: Arthur Fils will enter the world Top 10 on Monday, a first for a Frenchman in six years

It will be official on Monday September 28, when the ATP rankings are published. Arthur Fils will join the world Top 10, a symbolic bar that no French player has crossed for six years. More precisely, the tennis player will even be in ninth place and will be the thirteenth French national to reach it since the creation of the ATP ranking in 1973.

Arthur Fils started the year 2026 in 41st place in the world before grabbing valuable points by stringing together good results: final in Doha, a title in Barcelona and another at the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati, without forgetting his two semi-finals in Miami and Madrid. He also benefited from the fall in the rankings of Fritz and De Minaur to enter the Top 10, which had not happened to a French player since Gaël Monfils in October 2020. The prodigy even moved into the Top 10 for the first time even though he has won, in 2026, only one match in two Grand Slams contested.

Towards a place in the Top 5 in the world?

For Lucas Pouille, who entered the Top 10 for the first time eight years ago, Arthur Fils is in his place: "He has this ranking without having played certain Grand Slams, the Australian Open, Roland-Garros, so it's a big step in his quest which is, I think, to win a Grand Slam, believes the former professional. Now for me, in terms of pure level of play, he belongs to the two or three players who follow Sinner, Alcaraz, who are still well ahead but today he has the opportunity to do great things, he is not going to stop there.

At only 22 years and 3 months, Arthur Fils is the second youngest French player to earn a place among the ten best tennis players in the world, just behind Richard Gasquet. He could even progress very quickly in the ranking since he has no points to defend until February 2027. Arthur Fils should get closer to the Top 5 in the world, or even join it in the more or less long term.