Martina Navratilova has given her seal of approval to Arthur Fils after his convincing quarterfinal victory at the Hamburg European Open.
Tennis legend Navratilova was greatly impressed by Fils' tennis abilities during his quarterfinal match against world No. 4 Casper Ruud at the Hamburg Open. The 19-year-old, who is currently ranked at No. 68 in the ATP rankings, defeated the Norwegian in straight sets, 6-0, 6-4.
This was Fils' first win against a top-20-ranked player, and it was against the tournament's top seed. He will go on to face Alexander Zverev in the semi-final of the ATP 500 claycourt event.
After such a display of talent from the young player, former world No. 1 Navratilova took to social media to share her praise of him,
"This kid is for real!", she wrote on Twitter, implying that she thinks his abilitis make him one to watch.
Such a compliment from the 66-year-old is a big deal, as her incredibly successful tennis career has led many to call her the greatest player of all time.
The American has 59 Grand Slam titles to her name, the most in the Open Era. This is made up of 18 major singles titles (including a record 9 at Wimbledon), as well as 31 in women's doubles and 10 in mixed doubles. In other words, she tends to know what she's talking about when it comes to good tennis.
Navratilova's positive comment comes after a strong season thus far for the Frenchman. He won his first Challenger title at the 2023 Oeiras Indoors II in January, which saw him break into the top 200 in the ATP rankings.
He then recorded his first ATP match win at the 2023 Open Sud de France, defeating former world No. 7 Richard Gasquet in straight sets. Later in the same season, he won his first ATP title at the Lyon Open, beating fourth seed Francisco Cerundolo in the final to become the tournament's youngest ever winner.
Things certainly seem to be looking up for Fils, and there are hopes he will continue to improve throughout the remainder of the season.
This kid is for real!
Boom! French 19-year-old Arthur Fils just played what looked like the match of his life (to date). Explosive hitting off both wings to rout No. 4 Casper Ruud on CLAY 6-0 6-4 in 77 minutes. Into Hamburg semifinal after breaking Ruud at love with a final flurry of winners
