Miami Open: Arthur Fils ‘top 10’ prediction made by tennis great amid resurgent run
Tennis great Justine Henin has claimed that there is “room” for Arthur Fils in the top 10 after the Frenchman continued his resurgent run of form at the Miami Open.
World No 31 Fils reached a career-high of 14th in the ATP Rankings in 2025 and looked to be on a consistently upward trajectory, only for a lingering back concern to derail the second half of his season.
Fils initially withdrew from the third round of the French Open and was forced to miss the grass-court swing, before an attempted comeback at the Canadian Open in August 2025 also failed, with the 21-year-old then out for the rest of the season.
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The Frenchman did not return to action until the Open Occitanie in Montpellier in February 2026, though he has been in fine form despite his lengthy layoff.
Fils reached the last eight in Montpellier, and after an opening-round loss in Rotterdam, then reached the final of just his third tournament back at the ATP 500 Qatar Open in Doha last month.
The 21-year-old has since reached the quarter-final stage of Indian Wells and is now into the Miami Open quarter-final, reaching the last eight of both events for the second consecutive year.
The 28th seed dropped just one game in an astonishing third-round win over Stefanos Tsitsipas in Miami, and backed that up with a three-set win over 24th seed Valentin Vacherot to reach the last eight.
Fils’ form less than two months into his comeback has defied expectations, and many are now backing the Frenchman to surge up the ATP Rankings this year.
Among those is former world No 1 and seven-time Grand Slam champion Henin, who offered an optimistic assessment of Fils’ trajectory on Eurosport France this week.
She said (translated from French): “There’s room for him in the top 10.
“When he looks at the names, he should be able to tell himself that he’s capable of challenging them.”
The men’s singles draw in Miami has blown wide open this year, with only three top-20 seeds — second seed Jannik Sinner, third seed Alexander Zverev, and 18th seed Francisco Cerundolo — reaching the quarter-final.
All three of Sinner, Zverev, and Cerundolo are on the bottom half of the draw, with Fils among those handed a significant opportunity on the top half.
The Frenchman will face 22nd seed Tommy Paul in an intriguing quarter-final meeting on Wednesday night, with the winner then facing either qualifier Martin Landaluce or 21st seed Jiri Lehecka in the semi-final.
The draw presents a significant chance for Fils to potentially reach his first Masters 1000 semi-final, and then push on to reach the biggest final of his career to date.
And, Henin thinks Fils will have the belief to reach the final of the Masters 1000 event.
“He’ll think it’s wide open, that there’s a big opportunity. That’s also where we’ll see his temperament, so he doesn’t get caught out,” added Henin.
“Matches are won and lost, now he has to take it one match at a time. He can give the impression of being the one who could pull off a surprise.”
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