“Come on, it continues.” On the fieldside camera, Ugo Humbert did not want to sign as is customary. The 26-year-old Frenchman instead had a message for the public a few moments after the greatest feat of his career against Carlos Alcaraz at the Rolex Paris Masters. “It was one of the most beautiful moments of my life on a court, and it’s thanks to you. But I don’t want to stop. The adventure continues,” warned Messin, this time microphone in hand.
And for good reason, despite his resounding victory in almost 2 hours 20 minutes of play, finished after 9:30 p.m., the French number 1 will quickly have to get back into the swing of things, heading for the quarter-finals against the Australian Jordan Thompson, who beat Adrian Mannarino in two sets (7-5, 7-6) in the round of 16. “I will prepare for my match as usual. I’m just trying to do things right. He plays very well, he’s a great player. He already beat me this year. I don’t know what time it is, but I’m going to try to get a good night’s sleep,” the Frenchman smiled.
“I’m not far from getting places for tomorrow”
As fate would have it, like this Thursday, Ugo Humbert returned to the Central Court and the night session in the first rotation for his second quarter-final at Bercy after 2020, in his “favorite tournament”. To the delight of the fans present. “I’m not far from getting places for tomorrow because it was so good,” enthuses Antonin, lawyer and regular at Parisian tennis games near Roland-Garros. However, you will have to be patient on the official resale platform where tickets are very rare, or… very expensive.
Otherwise, it will be in front of the television for the others anyway. “When I saw the poster, I said to myself that it was a foregone conclusion. I didn’t really know French. I looked at his age on my phone during the match, admits Emma, manager of a Parisian brasserie. But now I hope he goes far in the competition. If he beat Alcaraz, logically he has a chance of going to the end, right? »
Ugo Humbert refuses to answer this question. “That’s what’s beautiful. I don’t want to make predictions. I try to live the moment to the fullest. When I play like that, anything is possible. We’ll see,” he simply sketched at a press conference. His opponent of the day Carlos Alcaraz couldn’t help but give him some nice compliments. “His performance was of a very, very high level. He was fantastic. Every time he plays against me, I feel like he plays better. And in Paris, even more,” he congratulated.
Favorite status in the quarters
In four appearances at the Rolex Paris Masters, the 26-year-old Frenchman has a quarter-final in 2020 against Milos Raonic as his best result. Last year, he did not come far from the feat against Alexander Zverev in the 2nd round. “It’s my game. I knew my game works very well on this indoor surface. I know I can annoy the very best in the world. I have two shots (forehand and backhand) that go quickly,” explains the French number 1.
Add to that a new left-handed serve for which he almost exiles himself in the corridor, and the recipe seems magical. All that remains is to apply it as a favorite against Jordan Thompson, a novice at this stage of the Masters 1000 competition at 30 years old. Ugo Humbert will play his 4th career quarter-final in this type of tournament. He never went beyond that. But he now has all the weapons. And few people, with Karen Khachanov and Grigor Dimitrov, fell in the greatest difficulty of Arthur Rinderknech, in his part of the table.
