The French beat in four sets this Wednesday, in the second round, Casper Ruud, seeded number 3. Enough to dispel a little more doubts after very complicated months.
At Wimbledon,
Eighth finalist in 2019 at Church Road, Ugo Humbert is green again on his favorite surface. Fallen to 112th place in the world, Messin offered the finalist of the last Roland-Garros, the Norwegian Casper Ruud (6th in the world), 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4, seeded number 3 So of course Ruud, the earthling, doesn’t have a green thumb. But the performance is real. “He doesn’t have many marks on the grass and I know that my game could annoy him. Especially since I led 2-1 in our previous confrontations. He has improved a lot in recent months and beaten the best. He proved it at Roland-Garros. But today I found that he didn’t have the same grinta as usual. I think he doesn’t like playing me because I take away a lot of his time, especially on grass. He could not shift on his forehand as he likes to do. It’s a great victory, especially at this time when it’s a bit complicated…The tricolor left-hander was thus very offensive and overtook the Norwegian. He was able to count on a very good two-handed backhand and a great success at the net, like the 12 points out of 17 in the second set.
“I started badly in the first set, I was a little tense. I couldn’t let go of my punches. Then I relaxed. I was very focused on my game plan. Being very aggressive and not giving him time and attacking him on his backhand. At first it didn’t work at all and then after winning the second set, I started to have confidence in myself. And I returned better than in my previous matches.»
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And he knew how to stay strong, like when he was trailing 3-0 at the start of the third, before resuming the opposing service and making the decisive break at 5-5. The Messin likes to play against the big players since he signs his seventh victory against a top 10 player: “I love playing this kind of match. I manage to let go of myself against this kind of player. Now I have to progress in my average level of play against lower ranked players.»
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Leaving the Top 100 on Monday for the first time in three and a half years, the Messin had a terrible record of 16 defeats for 5 small victories this season. And on grass, he didn’t shine on his favorite surface either. But at Wimbledon, he finds colors and dispels doubts alongside Thierry Ascione: “I don’t regret having made the choice to be a bit alone lately. But I’m happy to have Thierry Ascione by my side. I was frustrated not to be 100% physically. There, things are better. After the vaccine I was very weak, last season and after the covid, at the beginning of the year, I chained injuries and defeats. It feels good to be in the 3rd round for confidence.“Waiting for better? Humbert will face for a place in the round of 16 the Belgian David Goffin (58th) who easily defeated the Argentinian Sebastian Baez 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. “I’m on the right track, but I want the story to continue. David Goffin is one hell of a customer. I know him well. I will prepare well for this game. I’m not setting myself a goal because it’s been hard in the last few months. There are times when my game is really in place where I serve well and return well, and then there are phases of not so well. I want to win so much that sometimes I tense up and make bad choices. I try not to put pressure on myself and play my tennis. I lived through difficult months. In the first round, I was down two sets to one and I told Thierry. “I’m fed up, I can’t take it anymore.” He told me that I was much stronger than my opponent. I have to push myself.»
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