“We are two good friends.” However, in the end, there will only be one left. Ugo Humbert and Arthur Fils, even if they are not quite from the same generation, know each other by heart. Used to confronting each other over the last seasons and defending the national colors together in the Davis Cup, the two French people find themselves in a very difficult situation: a Franco-French duel for a place in the round of 16 of the Australian Open.Nobody likes it“, warns Arnaud Clément who knows a lot about the subject after having faced Cédric Pioline, Sébastien Grosjean, Nicolas Mahut, Gaël Monfils, Nicolas Escudé and Fabrice Santoro during his rich Grand Slam career.
Finalist in Melbourne in 2001, the Aixois defeated his great friend Sébastien Grosjean in the semi-final. He knows better than anyone the trap of these very special encounters: “You have to try to be as natural as possiblenotes our consultant. We don't like playing a friend because we like being able to spontaneously celebrate points or a victory. When you play a friend, you have a form of restraint.”
Humbert: “No favorite or outsider”
Video credit: Eurosport
Generally, it doesn't make for a great match
Calculating your celebrations is one thing. But facing someone close to you especially pushes you to rethink your way of playing: “A friend is a player who trains more with you, who watches your matchescontinues Clément. CThat is to say, he knows you by heart. You are led to foil or not make the right choices because you ask yourself too many questions. Generally, it doesn't make for a great match.“There are also exceptions like… the spectacular confrontation between Fils and Humbert in the final in Tokyo.
Surprising a player who knows you by heart without losing efficiency, that's where the key to the match could be this Friday. “There are quite a few aspects that we are trying to change a littlewarns Arthur Fils. But these are not big changes. We know when the guy is going to go along the line, when he is going to go cross… We try to vary it a little.“Another imperative: keep the eye of the tiger even in front of a friend.
Humbert – Habib – Match highlights – Australian Open
Video credit: Eurosport
Isn't there also a desire in their minds to remain the leader in French tennis today?
“You have to look for a little more positive aggressiveness in your behavior, in your hitting, because it is necessarily, basically, a little less natural“, notes Clément again. Instead of asking a whole bunch of questions, we must decorrelate this meeting from its context. “The solution may be to bring the player back to his initial objectivetells us Pierre Gauthier, mental trainer who accompanied Ugo Humbert. Very often, the initial objective of an athlete is not to beat a French player. So, from the moment we manage to bring him back, to get him back to what he is really aiming for in tennis, the athlete understands quite well that ultimately, this match is one match among many 'others.“
Until now, Humbert has been able to adapt to these very particular conditions much more often. He won three of their four meetings on the main circuit but lost the last one, in the final in Tokyo. This duel is not just a simple match between two French people. Firstly because in Grand Slams, the expectations are not the same. Then because these two young boys have common ambitions and national supremacy is at stake.
“These are the two French number 1srecalls Clément. I'm not making a statement about it, but in their heads, isn't there also this desire to remain the leader of French tennis today? It also counts, sometimes, in the minds of some people.“Fils and Humbert are aiming in the short and medium term for the top 10 and a quarter in the Grand Slam. This derby is also there to whet their appetite and take the lead in this distance duel. So even if no one likes to face a compatriot, everyone has a crazy desire to emerge victorious.
