The French number one did not hide his joy and pride a few minutes after knocking down the four-time Grand Slam winner.
On the feat against Alcaraz
“It’s the best victory of my career and it’s the best moment I’ve experienced on a tennis court. It was incredible! I train for this. This is what I kept repeating to myself throughout the third set. I wanted the story to end better than last year. I thought about the match against Zverev (defeat in three sets in the 2nd round), it gave me strength. I’m super proud of myself. With my game, on these surfaces, as on grass, I can really annoy the very best in the world. »
On his first perfect set
“Jérémy (his coach) told me: ‘above all, don’t do the same thing as in the Davis Cup by wanting to overplay’ (Humbert lost in 2 sets against Alcaraz). There was everything that fit. I was putting winning move after winning move. I was ultra-aggressive on the way back. At the start of the second one, I started to fail a little. He started playing better. I think I had spent so much energy that I had a little setback and I fought until the middle of the third to make it go away. Afterwards, I talked to myself the whole third set, I was talking to myself. I needed to talk to myself to tell myself that I was with me, that I was there, that I would not let go until the end. It worked, it did me good, I felt that way. It was the right solution. »
On his dry defeat in the Davis Cup against Alcaraz
“He had an incredible match. I hadn’t had too many chances, he made me force everything and I hadn’t seen the light of day. It was a different match with the support of the crowd, which was incredible. I’m also happy to give them the victory because it was an important moment for me and to share it with them, it was just fabulous. »
On his qualities as an indoor player
“I play very well on these surfaces. I have two strikes on both sides which go very quickly. I think Carlos is not the only one who feels this way when they play against me. I had a great match and I love playing the best players in the world. This is why I train, in these conditions, at Bercy, my favorite tournament. These are matches that I love to play. »
On what he said to himself
“There was the camera next to me. At one point, I said to myself: they will hear me. I think it’s possible to recover the videos, but it was positive talk! »
On the rest of the tournament
“I don’t want to make predictions, to know what will happen. I try to live the moment to the fullest. I came to Bercy to experience these kinds of emotions, this kind of match. When I play like this everything is possible. I don’t know how far I’m going to go, we’ll see. This is the question I don’t want to answer. »
On his shift against Thompson
“I will prepare for my match as usual. There, I’m going to do my recovery. I just try to do things right, prepare well, be super focused, enjoy the moment. We’ll see. I don’t know anything about it. He plays very well. He’s a great player, you have to respect him. He beat me this year too. I don’t know what it’s going to be, we’ll see. Tonight I’m going to try to get a good night’s sleep and come back down quickly. Now, I don’t know what time it is, but I’m not going to bed right away, I think. I will already try to do things as best as possible and prepare for tomorrow. »
Comments collected at a press conference
