Arthur Fils broke into the ATP top 10 this week for the first time in his career, capping off a season that has included semifinal runs at the Miami and Madrid Masters, a title in Barcelona, and the biggest breakthrough of all: his maiden Masters 1000 crown in Cincinnati last month. That run made him the first Frenchman since Gael Monfils in 2016 to reach multiple Masters 1000 semifinals in a single season, and it even pushed him to his career-best ranking of world No. 9. But the momentum didn’t transfer as smoothly into New York. 

Fils was defeated in the first round of the US Open by former world No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas in four sets, a disappointing outcome considering he won Cincinnati just a week prior. After the exit, he and his team started looking for opportunities to begin the Asian swing, and that is where things went wrong. 

The 22-year-old missed the registration deadline for the Japan Open, losing the chance to gain direct entry into the main draw. With registration closed, his only remaining route in would have been one of the tournament’s three available wildcards, all of which instead went to Kei Nishikori, Sho Shimabukuro, and Rei Sakamoto. 

That leaves Fils with no option but to fight through qualifying to reach the same draw he would otherwise have entered as the third seed after Ben Shelton’s withdrawal, behind only Carlos Alcaraz and Frances Tiafoe.

Sitting at world No. 11 in the live rankings, Fils will become the highest-ranked player to compete in ATP qualifying at any tournament since at least 2007, the earliest year for which the tour’s own records are available. He surpassed the records of Jack Sock, who played in the qualifying at Eastbourne in 2018 despite being ranked 15th in the world, and of the other American, Tommy Paul, who did the same at Queen’s in 2023 and was also ranked 15th.

Why did he choose the Japan Open over the China Open?

The 22-year-old Frenchman can’t switch to the China Open since it runs simultaneously with the Japan Open, and registration for that event has also closed. Fils has not played a single match since the US Open first-round exit. Therefore, it’s even more important for him to get back into rhythm before the Shanghai Masters, which begins on October 7. So a player must choose one event, and he chose Tokyo for a reason.  

It carries a real sentimental value for Fils as he won the title there in 2024. It was his first hard-court tour-level trophy, beating Taylor Fritz, Matteo Berrettini, Ben Shelton, Holger Rune, and Ugo Humbert en route to the trophy. However, he was unable to defend it last year after a stress fracture in his back sidelined him from August 2025 all the way through February 2026.

This qualifying detour even has an ulterior motive. Fils is currently in seventh place in the ATP Race to Turin with 3150 points- the eight best players fight it out against each other to win the ATP crown at the end of the year. A poor performance in Tokyo can cost him his first qualification for the ATP Finals.