Alcaraz goes out on Halloween night before Humbert

I had a bad memory of this track, because in 2018 it suffered hostile territory at its maximum against Hugo Gaston. But this time it was not the excuse, but rather a tremendous blackout in the first set and Humbert who collapsed at the end of the match, when it seemed that Alcaraz had everything in his hand.

The Eiffel Tower, tattooed in honor of his first Games, appears on his left leg, and he wanted this Paris with a fast surface to also be a talisman in the fall, a few days before the Masters Cup begins and the course ends fighting for the Davis Cup. . But, being the same city in which he was crowned in June and won the silver in August, he has not been able to tame this tournament or this pavilion as he would like. The track, very fast; the stage, indoors; the public, against; an unleashed Humbert. There were many rivals, and perhaps that is why it was difficult to start. A lot.

The speed before Nicolas Jarry In the debut he did not appear until after the first three games, a joy for the local stands who saw their boy fly around this green track and fuel the hopes of taking another of their own to the quarterfinals, and against Alcaraz, too.

The Spaniard, who did not have the reaction of the previous one, lethargic in his movements and in his serve at the beginning of the match, found himself ambushed by Humbert’s dizzying left hand, to which everything came out faster, more efficient, more heeled, more dangerous, more lethal.

So much so that Alcaraz celebrated with a half smile, between resignation and anger, his first game with 3-0 down. The blackout was evident in all his movements, because in front of him there were flashes of lucidity from anywhere on the track. Despite the fact that the first serve was over 70% effective, Humbert loaded his hand with gunpowder in each return. Although Alcaraz’s drive is faster, Humbert arrived with more intention at all the proposals, and converted the answers, and the serves, and the parallel backhands, and the volleys, into a monologue that culminated with a 6-1 very fast in time, eternal for the Murcian.

Number 2, confused, had accumulated error after error. Although in the second set he finally managed to get out of the mess and finally go ahead, and he even fought for the break for more than eleven minutes in the fourth game. “Let him see you, let him feel you,” Juan Carlos Ferrero shouted from the box. And there, a little step forward here, another there, minimizing the mistakes and taking advantage of the logical decline of the Frenchman, impossible to maintain that rhythm and level once the hour had passed, Alcaraz began to enjoy this carpet in which there is hardly any reaction time. And the Frenchman, of course, began to doubt.

In this other game, Alcaraz began to recognize himself. More focused, more convinced, more aware of who he was on the track, the Spaniard headed the way. A break in the fifth game also allowed him to find relief, the breath of fresh air, the wind that diffused the clouds. With another liberating cry, he chained four great first serves and nullified Humbert’s attempted reaction.

But Alcaraz was aware that this was not one of his best days. After eight minutes in the locker room, while the Spaniard shared jokes with his team, dispersing the tension that still remained in his arm, Humbert seemed to recover all the lost energy. Again very fast points, remains deep inside the track and with courage in the face of what already seemed like the definitive script after the Spaniard recovered his smile.

But it was the Frenchman who held firmer, more convincing, more solid even with Alcaraz’s attempts to take his serve in the fourth game. The stands, which had been amused by Alcaraz’s balancing act, celebrated with joy, ended up applauding their idol, who showed an even more daring and agile version in the final stretch of the clash. He withstood the rival’s break attempts and challenged him to accept the tie break or give up, and Alcaraz, this Alcaraz of ups and downs, could not maintain his style or his serve. Two double faults penalized him too much when he tried to extend the match until the tie break. An error with the backhand, too long, lifted Paris-Bercy from their seats and Humbert’s arms, completing the feat of signing one of the matches of his life against this Alcaraz that he never fully found himself.

The Murcian falls earlier than he would have liked in Paris, ending the good streak of this final of 2024 in which he had arrived with very good feelings, champion in China, light in the debut in the last Masters 1,000, but dull in his second duel. Now, to think about Turin.