The ATP Tour could have a new top 10 player on the horizon after he made a winning return.
After the conclusion of the first major tournament of the year, there have been some big movements in the ATP rankings.
This has included 38-year-old Novak Djokovic, who has been rewarded for reaching his first Grand Slam final since Wimbledon in 2024.
Djokovic has been consistently part of the top 10 in the ATP rankings since July 2018, and Steve Johnson has predicted that he will be joined by a young star who has just won their first match in six months.
Steve Johnson makes ranking prediction for Arthur Fils following his comeback
The 2025 season was very challenging for Arthur Fils, with the 21-year-old spending most of the second half of the year on the sidelines due to a back injury.
Fils reached his career-high ranking of world number 14 in April last year, but only played two matches after the French Open last season.
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The Frenchman continued his absence from tennis after withdrawing from the Australian Open, but Fils has now returned for the ATP 250 tournament in Montpellier.
Despite missing most of the second half of the 2025 season, Fils is still the world number 42 and he made a triumphant return after beating his compatriot Valentin Royer, 7-6(7) 6(4)-7 6-2, to win his first match since the Canadian Open.
Some had noticed that Fils appears to have lost some muscle mass during his absence, but former top 30 player Johnson still appeared to be impressed by the Frenchman.
When reacting to his performance on Tennis Channel, Johnson backed Fils to break into the top 10 if he remains fit for the remainder of the season.
“I just want to see him healthy, because he is such a fun guy to watch,” Johnson said about Fils when speaking on . “I love when he is out there, the forehand is huge, the serve is huge, he’s got great charisma, he brings a lot of energy out there.
“So as long as he can stay healthy, I couldn’t agree more with Jimmy [Arias], I think he is a top 10 guy as long as he can put together a good 12 month season from start to finish. So hopefully this is just the start for him, he’s healthy and he can just continue on.”
Ben Shelton sends message to Arthur Fils following comeback win
Johnson spoke about how much of a fan he is of Fils’ game, and his popularity has really shown after he made his comeback.
Many people have reached out to Fils since he won his first match in Montpellier, including world number nine Ben Shelton.
On his Instagram story, Shelton wrote, “Good to see bro back (love heart and praying hand emojis).”
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Fils will look to continue the winning feeling when he plays another Frenchman in lucky loser Ugo Blanchet.
This will be a first-time meeting between the two players on the main tour, but Fils did beat Blanchet when they played on the ATP Challenger Tour in 2022.
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