The top French talent, represented by Tennium, defeated defending champion Alexander Zverev 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (1) after 3:33 hours in one of the best ATP finals of the year, at the first Hamburg Open organized by Tennium. Fils secured his second ATP title after Lyon 2023. The victory at the ATP 500 event is the biggest title of his young career.
At the same time, the final on Sunday in front of a sold-out crowd (a total of 75,000 spectators visited the Hamburg Open this week) on the Centre Court at the Rothenbaum was one of the longest ATP finals in the “best-of-3” format. The record is held by Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz in the final in Cincinnati 2023 (3:49 hours).
Fils, who still looked visibly overwhelmed at the presentation ceremony after the effort and success, said later at his pressconference: “That was the best match of my career, or at least one of the best. A tough match that would have helped me in my career even if I had lost.”
Both protagonists agreed that the deciding point of this marathon match was Zverev’s 21 out of 22 missed break chances. The defending champion said in his press conference: “Using only one of 22 break points doesn’t help much. I served well on some of them, I played some good rallies. He missed other balls. I don’t know either. I just gave it my best shot. Then I saw the number and the result and I was a bit lucky today.”
Fils had great affection and understanding for the Hamburg audience: “Everywhere I go, I have a good relationship with the spectators. I had that here this week too. But I played the German superstar here today. It’s completely normal that the audience is for him. But that also gives me extra motivation. I love Hamburg and hope to come back.”
The Tennium player had actually wanted to take a vacation on the beach before the Olympic Games, but was persuaded by his coach to play in Hamburg and now has the biggest title of his career.
