Despite being ranked 11th in the world, Arthur Fils will be in the Japan Open qualifying draw next week.
There are twin ATP 500 tournaments on the upcoming schedule in Tokyo and Beijing. Fils and his team were waiting until the last minute to decide which one to play. However, they waited too long. By the time they decided on Tokyo, the main-draw entry deadline had already come and gone.
Fils proceeded to ask for a wild card, but that requested was denied. Instead, Japanese players were awarded all three wild cards (Kei Nishikori, Rei Sakamoto, and Sho Shimabukuro). As a result, the 22-year-old Frenchman will be the highest-ranked player to compete in an ATP qualifying draw in more than 20 years.
Fils won the title in his only previous trip to Tokyo (2024). He beat Taylor Fritz, Matteo Berrettini, Ben Shelton, Holger Rune, and Ugo Humbert en route.
Even though Shelton — the U.S. Open runner-up — withdrew, the Tokyo field remains stacked. It is headlined by Fritz, Rune, Carlos Alcaraz, Frances Tiafoe, Rafael Jodar, Lorenzo Musetti, and Casper Ruud.
ouch
Fair enough on the local wildcards, they’re all good players too. The missed deadline wasn’t the organisers’ fault, it’s all well publicised, no? And even past champions should be better organised and not expect one of the locals to miss out on a wildcard because they couldn’t make up their minds before deadline. Anyway, that’s one way to warm up for the tournament.😅
“It is headlined by Fritz, Rune, Carlos Alcaraz…”
Somebody’s billed a bit low in that sentence.
Fritz and Rune had already been mentioned previously in the article
#Writing101
Fils will move up 2 spots and will be ranked No. 9 by the time he plays in Tokyo qualifying
I noticed van de Zandschulp is playing qualies in Beijing.