PARIS — Arthur Fils, one of the sport’s most thrilling young players, will miss the French Open due to an as-yet-unspecified injury, he announced Saturday in a press conference.It’s the second year in a row that the 21-year-old Frenchman has had to withdraw from his home Grand Slam. He pulled out of the 2025 tournament with a stress fracture in his back, after pulling off a dramatic, five-set win over Jaume Munar in the second round despite being in severe pain for much of its middle third.That injury waylaid Fils for eight months. He said Saturday the pain he’s currently experiencing — which he first felt in his hip at the Italian Open earlier in May and has kept him off the practice court for the past two weeks — is different from what he experienced last year.“For sure it’s not the same as last year. It’s not. Then after, I don’t know if it’s, like, the lower, lower back or if it’s the hip or the psoas,” Fils said.“I don’t know. It’s this area that bothering me since couple of weeks, but I can’t say it now, because I don’t even know myself. I don’t know.”Fils, his face a picture of resignation on the dais, did not give a timetable for his return.“I can’t expect anything, I can’t explain anything, because even me, I don’t know. It’s just pain, pain that bothering me. And when I step on the court, it just here. It’s never going somewhere. If it was the last tournament of my life, I will have played. But now that I have 10 more years, 15 more years, I cannot do every time the same mistake.”Fils’ setback has deflated a buoyant comeback that started in February. After reaching the final of the Qatar Open, an ATP 500 event two rungs below the Grand Slams, he reached the semifinals of the ATP Masters 1000 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, won the Barcelona Open (a 500) and reached the semifinals of the Madrid Open, another ATP Masters 1000.Then, the stumble. At the Italian Open, the final ATP Masters 1000 before the French Open, Fils retired from his opening match against Andrea Pellegrino while down 0-4.On May 11, he posted on social media: “Felt something during the match in Rome. I ran all the tests with the team and everything is clear. Already back to work in Paris.”Saturday, Fils said that his practices this week were the the first time he had been able to play points in two weeks.“Everything was looking pretty fine, but still a lot of pain,” Fils said.“I will not be fit 100 percent to play the [French Open], and I will not take any risk like I did last year. I don’t want to be stupid.”Fils’ withdrawal leaves an already thin group who can challenge Jannik Sinner for the men’s singles title even thinner, and deprives French fans of cheering on one of their most promising young talents. France has not had a men’s singles champion at Roland Garros in 43 years.Jesper de Jong of the Netherlands replaces Fils in the draw, and faces 2015 French Open champion Stan Wawrinka in the first round.