Ugo Humbert had to justify himself. A few days after declining a Davis Cup selection, the 33rd player in the world judged on Sunday “totally wrong” to consider that he “does not like playing in the blue jersey”. “I have always worn the jersey” of France in the Davis Cup “with great pride,” insisted Messin in the introduction to his pre-tournament press conference at the ATP 250 in Montpellier.
“I have always put a lot of passion into all the matches I have played in the French team and I think I have been impeccable in that regard over the last three years,” insisted the 27-year-old left-hander before detailing the reasons which pushed him to favor the Montpellier tournament rather than the first round of Davis Cup qualifying, which will be played on February 7 and 8 at Portel (Pas-de-Calais) against Slovakia.
“I’m coming out of a difficult season where I had a lot of injuries, a lot of events which disrupted me a little and I went down in the rankings,” explained the Frenchman, 14th in the world at the start of 2025.
“A little sad”
Reacting to Humbert’s decision, the national technical director of the French Tennis Federation (FFT) Didier Retière expressed his disappointment earlier this week. “Obviously, we are a little sad (…) We are disappointed,” the manager told AFP, evasive about possible sanctions against the player.
“The opinion that elected officials or leaders have of me is not at all the opinion that I have of myself,” Humbert argued on Sunday, without explicitly referring to Retière’s comments. “The priority is really to try to move up the rankings” to return to the top 32 players in the world and benefit from seeded status in the Grand Slam, he assured.
In January in the first round of the Australian Open, Ugo Humbert had to face Ben Shelton (7th) in the first round, which ended for him with a defeat in three sets. With Roland-Garros, “the Davis Cup was a tournament that always made me dream of when I was young,” declared Messin, wishing “good luck” to his teammates for the match against Slovakia.
