French hopes at Roland Garros took a battering on Saturday as national No. 1 Arthur Fils withdrew from the Sunday start of the Grand Slam with a hip injury.

The ATP No. 19 who won the Barcelona title a month ago but had to retire recently in Rome after only four games, said he is unsure of his actual health situation.

“In Rome I felt a little bit (of pain) around the hip. After an exam, everything were looking pretty fine, but still a lot of pain.

“I was not able to practice for the last two weeks.:

The French hope said that a Saturday training session showed him he would be unable to front up for the Sunday start.

“I will not be fit 100 per cent to play the tournament, and I will not take any risk like I did last year (back pain which kept him out for eight months).

“I don’t want to be stupid, you know.”

The 21-year-old with four ATP titles managed the third round here a year ago, then was able to play just two matches until his injury return in February.”It’s just pain bothering me. When I step on the court, it’s just here. It’s never going away.

“If this was the the last tournament of my life, I would have played. But I have 10, 15 more years,”

Fils said his current injury is not the same as his 2025 back problems.

“It’s this (lower back or hip) area that bothering me since couple of weeks, but

I can’t say it now, because I don’t even know myself.”

Taylor Fritz on Friday reinforced his call for more Grand Slam prize money to players as the protest over splitting up the spoils at the majors heats up.

The American world No. 5 said that while serious boycott talk is not yet in the air, he would not be surprised to see tensions rise at the current French Open which begins on Sunday.

Players are seeking an increase to 22 per cent of takings at the four majors instead of the current 15 per cent – laughably low by international sporting business standards.

“Something does have to change if we are ignored, so that’s a conversation to have, I think,” Fritz said.

“Right now I’m not ready to start tossing that (boycott) around, because I want to really mean it if I’m going to say it.”

Currently, top 10 competitors are limiting their interviews – especially with television – to a maximum 15 minutes, time which also includes the much more numerous print media.

The money issues boiled over last week at the Rome Masters, with world no. 1s Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka in solid support of their peers.

“It’s not about wanting more money. It’s about just wanting what’s fair,” Fritz told reporters in Paris.

“And as the tournaments make more money, we obviously want to see the revenue shared back to the players reflect that.

“I think obviously when it’s going the opposite direction and going down, it’s disappointing to see.

“We have been pretty patient and mild with, I’d say, our requests.

“All of us feel it’s a bit disrespectful to just be ignored when the sport is the healthiest, when I think there is a very fair partnership and open dialogue between the players and the tournaments.”

The current situation in Paris could be heading for a clash,with TD and former world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo saying the event “would not budge” on the prize money issue.

Novak Djokovic turned 39 on Friday and celebrated by putting a lid on his chances of lifting a record 25th Grand Slam singles title at Roland Garros.

The fourth-ranked icon arrives in Paris after losing his pre-Paris only match in Rome after suffering with injuries throughout a dismal spring and missing around two months of play.

“It’s been a lot of hours on the court trying to perfect the game and the body

and enable myself physically and game-wise to be ready for best-of-five (sets),” he said.

“I don’t know whether that’s going to be the case for the entire
tournament, however long that tournament will be for me.

“Grand Slams have always (headed) the priority list, particularly in the last couple of years. 

“So I always try to aim to be at the peak of my own abilities to perform well in Grand Slams.I can’t wait to get on a court and start competing.”

Djokovic said that a “higher force” kept him from playing over the majority of the spring clay season, and admitted to doubts that he would even be ready to compete in Paris.

“I wanted to play more, but my body was not allowing me. I was going through rehabilitation process for my injury (reportedly a shoulder, though he has never said…)

“After Indian Wells (early March) , it was, yeah, just not possible for

me to compete for several months.’

He added: “I really wanted to go to Rome to give it a shot and try and see how I feel. I was far from being ready to compete, but still, I needed at least that one match just to have the score called by the chair umpire and have
experience of the nerves.

“Thankfully, the response of the body and the preparation has been positive in the last 10 days, so here I am, and we’ll see what happens.”