Shocking Moment Tennis Fans FIGHT Over Star's T-Shirt after French Open Five-Set Thriller

A sweaty t-shirt thrown into the stands sparked madness on Court Suzanne-Lenglen in the wake of French No. 1 Arthur Fils' second-round clash with Jaume Munar on Thursday afternoon. <br /><br />Home favourite Fils won his first match at Roland-Garros on Tuesday after first-round defeats in 2023 and 2024, stoking rising excitement around the 20-year-old's prospects on French soil. <br /><br />Against Munar, Fils claimed the first two sets via tiebreak in front of an increasingly feverish crowd, before the Frenchman appeared to struggle with injury in the third set. <br /><br />Munar went on to level the tie against the backdrop of concerns that Fils might be forced to retire. <br /><br />But the Paris native knuckled down and drew upon his reserves to nab the tie dramatically, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 0-6, 6-4. <br /><br />As the crowd roared in support, Fils tore off his shirt to flex his muscles in celebration, before throwing the Lacoste jersey into the stands. <br /><br />Fans clamored for the garment, but rather than accept defeat, one man appeared to cling to the shirt, wrestling with several competitors to keep hold of it. <br /><br />The man eventually almost pulled over the final rival for the jersey before clutching his prize tightly, while fans in nearby seats squabbled over Fils' towel. <br /><br />Fils will now wait for the result of 17th-seed Andrey Rublev's clash with Australia's Adam Walton to learn his third-round opponent. <br /><br />During his on-court remarks, Fils admitted that he had used the example of another French tennis star to help get himself over the line in the Parisian sun. <br /><br />'In the fifth set, I thought of Gael (Monfils),' Fils said. 'He has come back from millions of matches like that. <br /><br />'So I thought, "Arthur, this is yours." You have to do the same. Go for it.<br /><br />'I don’t have a lot of words. It’s thanks to you guys. Even if I was leading two sets to zero... I knew it was very physical. I entered the 2nd set tiebreak not feeling very well. <br /><br />'But I told myself that it’s a 5-set match. Even if you lose the next two sets, there’s always a 5th set. I said that to my box. <br /><br />'That I’ll focus on the 5th set, and we’ll see what happens. It all went well in the end.' <br /><br />Veteran Monfils battled back similarly on Tuesday night in five sets against Hugo Dellien, in the process setting the record for the number of five-set comebacks - a titanic 12 - at the French Open. <br /><br />Monfils' reward will be a challenging one, however, with the 38-year-old preparing to go toe-to-toe with British No. 1 Jack Draper on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Thursday evening.