Arthur Fils‘ luck with injuries just keeps on getting worse. His Swiss Indoors campaign has come to an abrupt end as he was forced to retire against Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals. Trailing 6-2, 2-0, Fils opted to retire, and it was suspected that lower back pain was the reason behind his decision. This withdrawal comes just days before the Paris Masters and could even affect his chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals.

Fils was the inferior player from the get-go as Fritz took the early lead and never let go of it. The American gained three breaks of serve in the opening set and got another in the second set before Fils retired. The Frenchman’s physical condition deteriorated in the first set, and he had to take a medical timeout while trailing 5-2. Things only got worse in the second set, and thus Fils pulled out of the match. While it felt that back problems had come back to haunt him, he later gave a different reason for his withdrawal.

“I’m going to go back to Paris for exams, talk to my team, we’ll see what we’re going to do for the rest of the season depending on the exams,” he said in the post-match press conference. “I felt a little pain in my leg on a trip at the very beginning of the match and it didn’t go away. I asked for a medical time-out but it didn’t improve so I made the decision to stop.”

The injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for Fils, as it is the business end of the season. He is one of the many players who are in contention to qualify for the ATP Finals. It will be a major blow for him if he has to miss the Paris Masters because of this injury, as it may ruin his chances of playing the year-end tournament in Turin.

The 22-year-old is currently in seventh place when it comes to the race for the ATP Finals with 3,525 points. He is 145 points ahead of Frances Tiafoe and 316 points ahead of Rafael Jodar. A decent result in Paris will most likely see Fils reach the year-end tournament for the first time in his career. But he will have to recover in order to play in front of his home crowd. He is pretty much in a race against time.

On the other hand, while Fritz may currently sit 12th in the race for the ATP Finals, he too has an outside chance of qualifying for the tournament. However, he will have to perform at his best and depend on the results of other players as well.

Taylor Fritz is still in contention to reach the ATP Finals

Fritz has 2,885 points on the list and is just five points behind Novak Djokovic, who was eliminated in the Round of 16 at the Swiss Indoors. Having reached the semifinals in Basel, the American can move up to the 10th spot if he wins the tournament.

The American has looked to be in great touch so far and hasn’t lost a set in the three matches he has played. He will be up against Valentin Vacherot in the semifinals, a player he has only faced once in a tour-level match before. The two met at the Swiss Indoors last year, and Fritz triumphed 4-6, 7-6, 7-5.

But Fritz is being given tough competition by Alex de Minaur when it comes to the race to the ATP Finals. The Australian is currently 10th on the list with 3,080 points and is competing at the Vienna Open. He has reached the semifinal and will be up against Alexander Zverev next. If de Minaur wins the Vienna Open, then Fritz’s chances of qualification can get quite slim.