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ROLEX PARIS MASTERS

October 29, 2018

Ugo Humbert

Paris, France

A. MANNARINO/U. Humbert

6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French, please.

Q. It was a first on the central court of Bercy for you. How did you feel? How did you manage your feelings?
UGO HUMBERT: It was a wonderful experience to be on the central court. It's one of the best indoor central courts so it was a real pleasure to play there.

Q. How did you live through this experience?
UGO HUMBERT: Well, after a while, I felt quite good.

Q. How about Adrian's game? He returned well?
UGO HUMBERT: Well, he's not easy to handle. His rhythm is not always the same. And from a tactical point of view I wasn't good either. He's not easy to play against.

Q. What is your outlook on your evolution? You're a top 100 now. You've played 85 matches, which is very significant. Did you think that your career would go so fast?
UGO HUMBERT: I'm very proud of myself, of my season. And especially the second part, which was very good. I played a lot of matches. I still have a few tournaments ahead of me. I will try to give my utmost because with the new regulations, I'm not really top hundred. But I made a lot of progress in a lot of fields. And this one has to remember that.

Q. There was a before and after the French Open, apparently. Is it an awareness from yourself? A change of method? Cedric said that you talked things over. Can you talk about this. How did you manage to have such a wonderful second part of the season?
UGO HUMBERT: After the French Open it wasn't easy. The loss was not good. My French Open was not well managed at all. And then I had some kind of epiphany. I knew I had to work thoroughly on my game. It worked well. And I'm continuing that path.

There are still a lot of areas where I have to improve myself, but then I struggle less with myself. I try to give pleasure on the court. And it worked out well. It suited me well.

Q. What difference do you see among all these tournaments where you reach the final, like on the Challenger and for 1000 it was your first time, yes? Is it a matter of intensity, getting on the court, which is quite spectacular? Does it make you play differently? What kind of difference do you see on the court?
UGO HUMBERT: Well, I think the difference lies in the players, with the top-30 players. I don't have enough experience in that field. It's a great thing to be able to play against such players. This is what makes me progress because on the Challenger I haven't played against top-50 players.

It was a wonderful experience, and I will try to capitalize upon that for the future.

Q. These top-30 players, how different are they from the others who are ranked 100 and 150?
UGO HUMBERT: The margin is very small, but there's much more intensity. And the solution is more tactical. This is where I made mistakes today. But they are very good players.

Q. You have often said that you wanted to take pleasure. You often said that you want to give and have pleasure. Is this what happened after the French Open?
UGO HUMBERT: Yes, exactly. On the court I felt better. I felt more free. I was myself. So this actually had some importance.

Q. Does it mean that before you were too stressed, that you were inpatient? Before you were very aggressive because you were inpatient? You wanted to wrap up quickly the point. How did you leave that?
UGO HUMBERT: I was very much stressed. You could panic at the end of matches as well. Yeah, I felt nervous. I asked myself a lot of questions. I wondered how things would turn up. And this has changed, I have to say.

Q. It was said that you're not sure to be top 100. Are you going to play a lot of tournaments still to try to have your place in Australia?
UGO HUMBERT: I'm going to Mouilleron-le-Captif next week and then I will see if I still have some energy left. There are still two or three tournaments. I registered in the U.S., Champagne and Italy. So I will see and take stock of the situation after the tournament.

Q. Is it vital for you to be part of the top 100 players?
UGO HUMBERT: Yes, this is my end-of-season objective. But I became aware that 80 points would be withdrawn from my point count when I was nearing the 100 rank. I'm 110, if I'm not mistaken. 80 points are missing.

Q. After the last tournaments that you expect to play, have you thought with Cedric of the inter-season to try to fix new objectives?
UGO HUMBERT: First I will take some days off. I need to relax, to refuel myself. And then we thought about things. I will go two weeks up in the mountains, then to Paris and then to Australia.

Q. You seem to be the only French player at such level. Does it add additional pressure on your shoulders? What is the level of other players from your generation? Did you have some chats with them? Did you discuss with them? What is going on at that level?
UGO HUMBERT: Well, I do not have additional pressure. I try to go along the path as it is in front of me to have my own rhythm. But if people say that I'm the only Frenchman at this level, well, I have no pressure. I try to be myself.

And as for the other players, I respect them a lot. I'm very happy to play against them. Benneteau, Richard, for instance. And more and more, they try to show me some methods, some shots and it's very interesting. I'm very open to that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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