Arthur Fils and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard have been good friends for more than 10 years, but they will put friendship aside at the Swiss Indoors Basel, where they meet in a compelling first-round matchup at the ATP 500 event.
The Frenchmen have experienced contrasting 2026 seasons, with Fils firmly in contention for a debut appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals, while Mpetshi Perricard has slipped to No. 148 in the PIF ATP Rankings and is still searching for his first tour-level win since June. Yet Fils is always ready to support his countryman.
“I try to help him,” Fils told ATPTour.com in Basel. “We speak a lot on the phone. We’re always talking, seeing each other. But, when you play against a friend, the season that you have — it can be the toughest one that you have — you're always going to play way better because it's something different.
“It's not like you're playing in a Challenger against someone else, no. You’re playing in the first round in Basel against your friend. We’re going to play a great match.”
Their first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting promises an intriguing contrast in styles, pitting one of the Tour’s biggest servers in 6’7” Mpetshi Perricard against one of the season’s standout all-court performers. Mpetshi Perricard won his second ATP Tour title in Basel in 2024 before climbing to a career-high World No. 29 last year, but the 23-year-old has had to come through qualifying to reach this year’s main draw.
Fils, meanwhile, is at a career-high World No. 8 after winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati and compiling a 36-14 record this season. The 22-year-old is also seventh in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, firmly in contention for one of the five remaining places at the Nitto ATP Finals.
“We’ve known each other since we were nine years old,” Fils said of Mpetshi Perricard. “He’s a very, very good friend. We always go on holidays together and everything, so I have a lot of memories. I can't even pick one, to be honest. We did some crazy things together.
“I'm quite used to it [putting friendship aside]. When you step on the court, you just want to win, and then after you shake hands, it’s all good. That’s my brother. We're going to talk, have some fun. But when we step on the court, it’s just another man trying to beat me.”
The pair, separated by just one year, came through the French tennis development system together and shared the same coaching group as teenagers. Fils won his first ATP Tour title in 2023 on the clay in Lyon, where Mpetshi Perricard earned his the following year.
During that 2024 season, Mpetshi Perricard also triumphed on the indoor hard courts in Basel, but he has since struggled to recapture that form. Despite his friend’s difficult spell, Fils has no doubt that his powerful countryman can rediscover his best tennis.
“I’m very confident he will find his best level again,” Fils said. “The first year he came on Tour, he won two tournaments and played unbelievable. He won on clay, he won on hard. He's a hell of a player, and he's been Top 30 in the world. He's going to come back soon. When he’s fit, he will be one of the best players in the world, I think.”
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