Humbert: Win over Alcaraz “the most beautiful victory in my career”
The Frenchman channeled lessons from 2023 into his clutch victory over the second seed
Ugo Humbert stuns Carlos Alcaraz at the 2024 Paris Masters © JB Autissier
France’s Ugo Humbert has labelled his victory over Carlos Alcaraz in the Paris Masters round of 16 as the best moment of his career, after the world No 18 knocked out the second seed with a thrilling 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 performance on Thursday night.
The French crowd were well and truly behind Humbert, after several of their own had fallen earlier in the day. But just as they did this time last year, a home-hope stood tall against one of the world’s best, and produced a stunning performance in Court Central.
“It’s the most beautiful victory in my career, and it’s the best moment I lived on a tennis court,” declared Humbert, just 24 hours after having complained that he wasn’t getting the attention he deserved in Paris. “I came to Bercy to live this kind of emotion, this kind of match. When it’s like that, anything is possible.
“It’s incredible. I train for that. I practise for that. I love playing against the best players in the world. This is why I’m training and practising, and the Paris Masters Bercy is one of my favourite matches.
“The public really was incredible and supported me. I was happy to give them this victory, because it was an important moment for me, and it was great to share it with them.”
Lesson learnt from 2023
This time last year, Humbert suffered an agonising loss to Alexander Zverev in the second round of the Paris Masters, with the Frenchman coming within two points of defeating the German in a three-hour, 30-minute epic.
Immediately following his win over Alcaraz, the 26-year-old pointed to last year’s failure as motivation this year.
“This is what I repeated to myself in the third set. I didn’t want what happened last year to repeat itself. I also thought about the match against Zverev, and it made me stronger.
“All through the third set I talked to myself. I was constantly talking to myself to tell myself that I was there, that I wouldn’t let go until the end, and it worked. I felt better, and that’s the way I felt it, and it was the right solution.
“It was a very positive speech.”
He also drew lessons from his most recent loss to Alcaraz at the Davis Cup earlier this year, where he lost 6-3, 6-3.
“Jeremy (Chardy) said to me, ‘Don’t do like in the Davis Cup. Don’t try to play to an excess, to overplay’. So I started. I was very aggressive. I knew that on this type of surface, like on grass, with my game I can be a problem for all the very best in the world.
“But in the Davis Cup, it was incredible. I didn’t even see the light of day. He forced me. But here, it was different.”
No revenge in mind for Humbert
While Humbert used past failures to motivate himself on Thursday, the losses of fellow Frenchman weren’t in the world No 18’s mind when he took on the second seed.
“No, what I do on court I do for myself,” said Humbert when asked if the losses of compatriots Arthur Fils and Adrian Mannarino had motivated him to seek revenge.
“I’m all the way into it for each match. I try to go to the end of my possibilities. I didn’t look at the results of the French. I knew about Arthur, because I played right after him, but there is no revenge. I just follow the road, my road.”
With five French players making the round of 16 in Paris, but three falling before Humbert could make it to his post-match press conference, the 26-year-old could well be the last hope for local fans in the quarter-finals.
But Humbert isn’t speculating about how far he could go at the year’s final Masters 1000, despite being a favourite to defeat world No 28 Jordan Thompson in the last eight.
“This is what I love in tennis. I don’t want to do any prediction or tell you what’s going to happen. I try to live the moment to the full. I don’t know how far I’ll go, but it’s a question I don’t want to answer.
“I can’t tell you. I’m going to prepare my match as usual. I’m going to try and recover. I try to do things well. I try to prepare myself well, to be focused, to enjoy the moment, and we’ll see.”
