Arthur Fils has labelled his performance as ‘unprofessional’ as he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round of the US Open.
The Frenchman had entered the US Open as one of the favourites to go deep but his run ended in the opening round.
Fils lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas 4-6 7-6 6-1 6-4 in a defeat that would have hurt considering his run to the title in Cincinnati just before arriving in New York.
After the match Fils said it was a tough contest and didn’t feel under any pressure in the contest, “Yeah, was a tough match. I got some occasion. Couldn’t make it. But congrats to him,” Fils said in his post-match press conference.
“I mean, he played better than me, so he deserve to win. Well, if I had any pressure, I think I would have start the match pretty bad. But I felt okay. I felt relaxed. I start the match okay. Not the best level I ever played, but still pretty solid. You know, I made myself in one very good position. So I think it was no pressure. Just some settings were not the best for me today.
As mentioned, Fils was a set and 5-2 up but struggled to seal the two sets to love lead before losing in four sets.
The Frenchman described the feat as ‘unprofessional’ and will conduct a review of the situation with his team, “I don’t really know. I don’t have the answer,” Fils acknowledged.
“But yeah, once the energy went down at the end of the second, and I never felt again a good energy. I have to talk with my team, but at my level, to do such a mistake is almost unprofessional.”
It has been a good swing for Fils despite the early exit with deep runs in Canada and Cincinnati, “Tough question to answer right now, to be honest,” Fils explained.
“Of course pretty happy with the way I play Montreal and Cincy, but very, very, very disappointed with the way I played today. So now I see more dark than pink, but it’s okay.”
