Humbert's bounce-back mentality with Chardy on side

On 23 June 2021, a jubilant Ugo Humbert was lying on the Halle grass. The Frenchman defeated Top 10 star Andrey Rublev in the final at the ATP 500 to capture the biggest title of his career, rising to No. 25 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

Aged 22, many expected Humbert to kick on and become the new leading light of French tennis, with legends Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon, Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet nearing the end of their careers.

However, hampered by injuries, he struggled. Humbert went on to win just three more matches on the ATP Tour in 2021, cutting his season short in September. Entering 2022, the Frenchman’s plight continued as he failed to win consecutive matches until Wimbledon in July when he was No. 157.

“It was very difficult. I had some physical problems,” Humbert said. “I was injured. I had a problem with a vaccine, with Covid, and my body and my confidence dropped a lot and my ranking dropped to 150.

“It was not easy mentally as well. I had played a lot of big events, all the Grand Slams. I won an ATP 500. And then I was having to play challengers and the players are playing really well. Players outside the Top 100 are also really good. I quickly remembered this. It was not easy to win some matches at all. It was a long process, it got harder and harder. But then I had a few good runs and it got better.”

Humbert reached semi-finals at three consecutive ATP Challenger Tour events in July and August 2022. A key factor behind his upturn in form? The arrival of new coach Jeremy Chardy, who began working with Humbert in July 2022.

“I tried to put a good team around me adding Jeremy Chardy,” Humbert said. “We had been friends since the Olympic Games in 2021, so I asked him. It was not that easy at the start because he was playing during a six-month period. It was a little bit difficult for him. But we were doing well. He gave me a lot of confidence on the court and off the court as well. My game became clearer and we have a really good relationship.

“I started to know what I had to do on court better. I had a really aggressive game, but not really solid. We are trying for me to have a more solid game from the baseline and trying to play my aggressive game like I did before. I improved my fitness as well, with Lapo Becherini, my fitness coach. It's all the work with my team that helped.”

Chardy, who retired last year at Wimbledon, has enjoyed working with Humbert but admitted coaching was not in his plans.

“I had the surgery for my knee in 2022 and Ugo called me two days after my surgery because he stopped with his whole team and he asked me if I could help him until the end of the year,” Chardy told ATPTour.com at last year’s Wimbledon. “I always wanted to try to give back all my experience and Ugo is a friend, so it was a good opportunity. I was doing my rehab with our physio because we share the same physio. And it was good. I really enjoyed the coaching at the beginning.

“I was not supposed to be a coach, though. When we started and started to travel, I started to really enjoy it. We did the offseason and he wanted to find a coach for 2023 because I wanted to play, but he wanted to stay with me. It is working well overall.”

With Chardy by his side, Humbert started 2023 by reaching the third round at the Australian Open, before he captured two Challenger trophies in May. Semi-final runs at tour-level events in Newport, Atlanta and Basel in the second half of the season and a quarter-final appearance at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai meant Humbert was back inside the Top 30 by October.

The Frenchman then returned to the winners’ circle in November 2023, this time at his hometown event in Metz. His title triumph at the ATP 250 propelled him into the Top 20 for the first time, with Humbert becoming the French No. 1 at the time.

“When I was a kid, every year I would watch the tournament Metz in my city. I wanted to play there when I was young, so it was really emotional when I won my title at home, in front of my friends, my family. I think it was the best moment in my career so far,” Humbert said.

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Humbert has continued his progress at the start of 2024 in Melbourne, where he is into the third round at the Australian Open and will next play ninth-seeded Pole Hubert Hurkacz.

The 25-year-old is one of four Frenchmen who have reached the last 32, joining French No. 1 Adrian Mannarino, 19-year-old Luca Van Assche and 21-year-old Arthur Cazaux. #NextGenATP star Arthur Fils advanced to the second round.

Humbert is excited by the state of French tennis.

“I think we push each other and with the as young players like Arthur Fils, Arthur Cazaux Luca Van Assche, we have a really good mindset between us,” Humbert said. “We have a lot of good players in France and they are coming. They are winning some big matches like Arthur Cazaux did against Holger Rune.

“It's really great for French tennis because we had a great generation with Tsonga, Monfils, Gasquet, so it's great to have some good players back in the Top 50 again and now in the Top 20. I'm sure soon we will have three or more in the Top 20.”

Humbert can leave Melbourne Park as the French No. 1. If he overcomes Hurkacz on Saturday and Mannarino falls to Ben Shelton, the 25-year-old will surpass the 35-year-old in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.