“I can’t stand straps” – Fils retires from Humbert match in bizarre circumstances
After his retirement against Humbert in the third round of the Australian Open, Arthur Fils explained that his discomfort was caused by strapping on his foot
Arthur Fils
When you’re a young 20-year-old player like Arthur Fils, you inevitably have a lot of areas for improvement. But no one had yet spotted this one.
The Frenchman, forced to retire this Friday when he was trailing two sets to one by Ugo Humbert during the French derby in the third round of the Australian Open, explained that his withdrawal was linked to the placement of a strap on his left ankle, one that he injured in his previous match against another Frenchman, Quentin Halys.
— FFT (@FFTennis) January 17, 2025
“The problem is that, since always, I can’t stand straps,” Fils explained.
“And then, I was made one that was a little too tight. I think I had a compressed nerve, at the level of the fifth metatarsal. I don’t really know yet but the more the match progressed, the more my foot hurt. It started in the second set.
“From the middle of the third set, I couldn’t really move. And at the beginning of the fourth, when I wanted to get up from my bench, I couldn’t. I couldn’t put my foot on the ground anymore, there was no point in continuing.”
We didn’t know Fils’ weak point for foot strapping, but the young Frenchman confided that he has always had a disdain for straps, bandages and other ankle braces, which can be quite problematic when you play a sport as demanding as tennis at a high level.
Fils must have seen the problem coming because the day before, during his training, he had to remove his strap after twenty minutes.
“This was already better, I lasted an hour and a half,” he continued.
“But I can’t stand anything, it’s pretty crazy. The most frustrating thing is that it’s not a big injury, I know that it will be better in a few hours and I am absolutely not worried about the future.”
Because of this, Arthur Fils’ schedule for the next few weeks is therefore not in question, and his participation for France in the Davis Cup tie against Brazil, at the beginning of February in Orléans, is not in doubt.
But, before continuing to polish his ever burgeoning game, he will have to take a serious look at his strapping issues.
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