A Roland-Garros,
We knew that Ugo Humbert loved grass, his love of clay is however very new. Winner of two challengers (second division tournaments) this spring on ocher in Cagliari and at 175 Bordeaux Primrose, the Messin approaches Roland-Garros with a certain confidence. “A lot of good things happened in Monte-Carlo, he breathes between two laughs. I had made good matches but I had not won. Against Sonego (in the 1st round), even if I had lost, I thought I had played my best match on clay. I love this surface because it’s much more tactical. You have to play smart, know how to protect yourself well. It’s something that I didn’t know how to do before. I understand better how I should play. I respect the game more. Before, I played very tense all the time. When I defended, I also played very tense and that never gave me time to come back. I felt like the guys were playing really well. In fact, I made them play well too. When I’m far away, I try to play higher. When I’m close, I always try to play my aggressive game because I’m not a good attacker. The mix of the two makes it possible for me to play well. And then, I find that I don’t move so badly too. »
To become an earthling, Humbert worked overtime with physical trainer Lapo Becherini: “We work hard, we work very hard (Laughs). It was Jeremy (Chardy, his coach) who introduced me to him when we started working together last July. I was looking for someone who would train me this way because I think it suits my physique well. This winter, we did very big sessions: 4 hours of physical, 4 hours of tennis a day. Last year, I was not at the level at all. I feel huge progress. I did 4 hour matches. Before, I could never last that long. Coming back to the court the next day and being able to play, that also gave me confidence. »
Thanks to his good performances, the 24-year-old rose in a few weeks from the 70th to the 38th. Here he is number one in France and he even lacked very few points to snatch a seeded status. “It’s something that was really close to my heart to be number one in France. I had put a lot of pressure on myself on this and I didn’t feel ready to carry the status yet. And then, there, I thought about it a lot with Jeremy. We thought it was an interesting goal.” In four participations, the new leader of French men’s tennis has never won a match at Porte d’Auteuil. Faced with Adrian Mannarino, who is never allergic to ocher again, Humbert has a great opportunity to open his counter: “Playing a Frenchman at Roland is never easy, he tempers. And he’s a lefty and more, like me.
