A l’Accor Arena,
The French Indian summer is already a distant memory for French tennis. There were eight of them at the start, only one remains. French tennis has never achieved such a catastrophic performance in eastern Paris since the creation of the tournament in 1986. In 1996 and 1999, only two representatives reached the second round. 2023 has therefore done worse. Like the other French veteran Richard Gasquet in the previous round, Gaël Monfils lost to the wire. As too often, if the French shine in minor tournaments, as soon as the step is high, they stumble too quickly. This sad vintage is therefore half a bad surprise. After a black Monday which saw Alexandre Muller, Luca Van Assche, Adrian Mannarino, and Richard Gasquet leave the tournament, Benjamin Bonzi left the door early Tuesday. Followed by the great hope Arthur Fils. Out of breath, the 19-year-old from Ile-de-France had given up his arms. The seventh representative in the big picture had been the right one. Calm winner of the American Marcos Giron 6-4, 6-3, Humbert, 25 years old, and French number 2 and 26th in the world, stopped the bleeding by becoming the first French to pass the first round after the eliminations of six of his compatriots. Manhandled last week by the American in Basel, Messin did not tremble this time. “Last week, I saved a match point. I remained serious. I still served well, I think. I did the job, I’m happy with my first match. »
In the next one, Humbert will challenge Alexander Zverev, whom the left-hander had dominated in Halle in 2021 during their first confrontation: “I remember that he served really very well, in the first and second. I will have to be solid as soon as I have opportunities, try to seek them out. It will be a great match in a great atmosphere. I can not wait to be there.” To once again save the honor of French tennis…