Arthur Fils faced near-certain elimination from Roland Garros when, battling a bad back and cramps, he was down a trio of break points deep in the fifth set against Jaume Munar.
The Frenchman had won the first two sets of their second-round showdown at Court Suzanne Lenglen before slumping to 6-2 and 6-0 losses in the next two.
Munar led 0-40 at 4-4, and held two more break points during a see-sawing deuce-ad battle. Converting any one of those five chances would have seen him serve for the match against an ailing opponent.
What followed was one of the more audacious displays of shotmaking possible.
Fils pounded forehand winner after forehand winner – keeping points as short as possible – and conducted the frenzied crowd to stage an unforgettable comeback.
“I'm tough, man,” Fils laughed after his eventual 7-6(3) 7-6(4) 2-6 0-6 6-4 triumph, requiring almost four-and-a-half hours to complete.
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“Today was a lot, but I knew that I was going to fight until the end. Maybe sometimes I'm gonna lose; sometimes I'm gonna win. But at least I'm fighting, and then we see.
“This is my best match of all time, I think. I have had big matches before, but I have never had a match like this in five sets before.
“It's going to be one of my best five-set matches ever of my life.”
In the moment, this contest represented one of the highlights of the tournament so far, with a packed Suzanne Lenglen crowd in full voice, roaring on a local player who rose to the occasion so spectacularly – and celebrated accordingly.
But in the bigger picture, this result seemed to represent the latest step in the burgeoning career of a future star.
Fils is just 20 years old but has burst onto the tour with a big-stage presence you simply can’t teach.
"He looks like he could be a front-rower for the rugby team... he's a big boy for a young lad,” Australian legend Todd Woodbridge observed on this week’s episode of The Tennis. "But with that he brings huge speed in terms of the way that he plays in racquet-head speed and power, and that type of thing. So he's really dynamic.
"The French, they play loose and flamboyant and they go for stuff, and it's entertaining. When he's on, he's really dangerous.
“He's just that type of player that you can see, all of a sudden, going into a deep run. He certainly has the firepower, the physicality, to do some damage.”
Increasing consistency is starting to accompany the raw talent and power – his forehand is one of the biggest in the game – and he currently sits at a career-high ranking of world No.14.
Eighteen Frenchman began the tournament but Fils is one of just two through to the third round, along with 52nd-ranked Quentin Halys. He’s flying the flag as the highest-ranked local player remaining in either singles draw and he represents the best chance of a home-grown men’s champion – something the tournament hasn’t seen in 42 years.
It would be premature to say this will be the year that changes; Fils needs to recover physically ahead of his upcoming battle with No.17 seed Andrey Rublev, while world No.1 Jannik Sinner looms as a projected fourth-round foe.
But rather than be shackled by the pressure of home expectations, Fils is channeling that spotlight and support into a winning force.
“It was unbelievable. Never felt like this. I played [Paris Masters at] Bercy. For me, Bercy was the best atmosphere. But now that I played this one, it's unbelievable,” Fils said after his second-round heroics.
“It's one of the best courts of the world if it's not the best one. The crowd really push me to win this match, because I think if I was playing in Asia or whatever, not very sure that I could, first of all, finish the match. And to win it, almost zero percent of chances.
“Today, with the crowd, with everything, I made it. A bit lucky, but it is what it is.”
Fils’ Grand Slam results are trending in the right direction.
He’d never previously won a match at Roland Garros, but is through to the third round of a second straight Slam, after Australian Open 2025.
At Melbourne Park he showcased the brute force of that forehand, attaining the fourth-highest spin rate (3293rpm) of any man in the draw and averaging a speed of 131km/h – 6km/h faster than the ATP top 100 average. Together, those speed and spin rates meant his forehand was the third ‘heaviest’ at the tournament.
A win over Rublev would send him through to the last 16, equalling his best Grand Slam result after he reached the same stage at Wimbledon last year.
Fils knows that Rublev – a 10-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist – represents an almighty test and has experience in spades when it comes to these types of matches.
But if he recovers well, he also knows he has another opportunity to spark more raucous scenes.
“Once you go onto the court, you have a 50/50 chance of winning. He has his chances; I've got mine,” Fils said.
“We'll see how the dice rolls.”