Ugo finds his smile again

The season on clay was long for Humbert, as often, but he’ll soon rediscover the joy of playing on grass!

I’m being a bit harsh with our Frenchman because his clay-court season wasn’t disastrous either; he didn’t win a ton, but he did have some good matches and I actually felt he was pretty strong in his last few. That’s a good sign before the grass season kicks off, a surface where he can really unleash his tennis at 100%. I think he still prefers indoor overall, but grass is just so great for his game! Whether it’s on serve, forehand, or with his super flat backhand, he’s a nightmare to play on this surface. He’s defending a semifinal this week, same as in 2025 in a smaller tournament he’d absolutely be capable of winning, and for me he’s one of the favorites this week.

He’ll be up against Ymer, who’s coming from the qualifiers and already has 6 grass-court matches in his legs, thanks in particular to a good Challenger last week. I saw him against O’Connell and I thought he was solid, but the Birmingham grass wasn’t all that good quality, and ’s-Hertogenbosch seems trickier for a player with his profile. Besides, he’s vulnerable on his second serve, he can start double-faulting out of nowhere, and if on top of that Humbert really goes after him, he’s going to be in trouble a lot.

The match is on the Frenchman’s racket; he needs to launch his season and it might not be perfect, but he’s got a good margin on grass against this type of player.