France’s Ugo Humbert pulls out all the stops to make it to the Paris Masters final

The last time the crowd at the Accor Arena in Paris’s Bercy neighborhood cheered on one of their compatriots in the final, Nicolas Sarkozy was still presiding over France’s destiny. On November 13, 2011, Roger Federer lifted the only Paris Masters trophy of his career, dashing the hopes of local hero Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

On Sunday, November 3, against Germany’s Alexander Zverev, Ugo Humbert will attempt to become the fourth French player to win the tournament that is living out its final hours in the emblematic venue. It is moving to La Défense in Nanterre, a suburb west of Paris, for the 2025 edition. On Saturday, the left-hander figuratively and literally beat Russia’s Karen Khachanov (world number 21), the 2018 Masters winner, in three sets: 6-7, 6-4, 6-3.

The 26-year-old had to be patient before savoring his first final in the most prestigious category after the Grand Slams. “But this week, I wasn’t expecting anything and that’s why it’s going so well. Today was a bit more difficult, everything was a bit more forced, no doubt [there was] a bit more pressure. There’s nothing better than finding the solutions within yourself to go out and win,” said Jérémy Chardy’s protégé with a smile.

In the first set, both players took it in turns to scatter their rallies. After an hour and 13 minutes of scrappy exchanges, Khachanov eventually clinched the tiebreak. Humbert had almost folded (5-2) before collapsing almost literally. After a week of dazzling displays and an outpouring of emotional energy, fatigue (28 unforced errors in all) was understandably taking its toll.

‘I’ll give it my all and then we’ll see’

The day before, he recounted an exchange with his psychologist following his prestigious victory over Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals. “She told me: ‘Fatigue is like a cloud, it passes.’ I’m enjoying it to the full, I’m not paying any attention to fatigue, I’m giving it everything I’ve got and we’ll see.” The last survivor of the French camp had little left in the tank, but he held on, coming back to within a set of each other after breaking his elder (28) in the middle of the second set.

In the third set, it was the Russian’s turn to suffer: At 3-2, he called in the physio to have his right thigh massaged. Back on court, he grimaced with every move, racked with cramps.

On the other hand, Humbert continued to raise his fist after every point and took huge advantage of his left-handed sliced serve to get his opponent as far as possible off the court. It’s a weapon he’s been honing. “I try to shift even more to give myself more angle. When I go to the T [the area where the two lines delimiting the service squares intersect] and I do it well, it’s surprising,” he explained on October 30 after his victory over American Marcos Giron. “It’s fun for me. I love adding a bit of variety, changing my serves regularly so that my opponent doesn’t get used to them. Often, I don’t serve much to the body, whereas when you’re left-handed, it’s a great advantage.”

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