Frenchman Arthur Fils, ranked world No. 14, spoke about his surprising exit in the second round of the Madrid Masters. He was defeated by Argentina`s Francisco Comesaña, 6-7(4), 4-6.
“I`m very tired,” Fils said. “The schedule is tough. You have to train for many days straight. I need two or three days of rest, then I`ll get back to practice. My opponent played a great match, he fought hard, and he made me look for my game. It was a really tough loss for me. If I had closed out the first set quickly, the match would have been different, but these things happen.”
Fils also expressed dissatisfaction with electronic line calling on clay.
“It`s awful,” he stated. “We`ve been using electronic line calling for a few weeks now. We`re on clay, there are marks. A serve can be two or three centimeters out, but then you look at the replay and it shows it catching the line. I think it`s terrible.”
“I believe that on clay courts, we should bring back line judges and trust the chair umpire. Right now, the umpire does absolutely nothing. They just sit there calling out scores like 15-40, 30-all, or giving warnings. They no longer come down to check the mark.”
“I think this needs to change. Especially on clay, it`s very frustrating. It`s difficult to accept, especially in such crucial moments,” Fils concluded during the press conference.
