Sensational Sascha defeats Humbert

You had to feel for Ugo Humbert: there was nothing he could do. No matter what he tried, he could not find a way to come close to Alexander Zverev in the 74 minutes it took the new world No.2 to win his first Rolex Paris Masters title 6-2, 6-2. The German was in devasting form from first ball until last.

“First of all, sorry,” he said to the crowd as he held the trophy. “To start, I want to congratulate Ugo on an incredible week. He’s an incredible player. All the hard work he is doing off the court, you can see it: the results are there. You’re playing unbelievable tennis and as I told you at the net, if you continue like this this is not the last chance you’re going to get. I’m sure you’ll be able to lift trophies like this very soon.”

The cheers echoed around the stadium. Zverev had not only won the title, he had just won over the crowd. It had been a remarkable performance from him in every way. 

The silence was deafening

The 14,000 faithful had come to applaud their French hero – and they know how to make noise in the Accor Arena – but Zverev silenced them after the first three games. He was a break to the good already and Humbert was never allowed to recover from there.

“It was pretty good, I have to say,” Zverev said with a huge smile. “But I knew I had to play like this to win today. Ugo is an incredible player plus him playing here in Paris I think he plays even better than he usually does. I knew that and once the crowd gets involved it’s going to be very, very difficult so I had to take that away. And I did that and I’m very happy about it.”

Popular wisdom has it that the way to beat Zverev is to play to his forehand; it is, allegedly, unreliable. Not on Sunday afternoon, it wasn’t. Not at all. He was almost robotic in the way he was able to stand in the centre of the baseline and dictate almost every rally from there. His hitting, at times, was brutal as he struck the ball with force, with venom and with relentless accuracy. And throughout it all, he was emotionless and poker-faced.

Near perfection

Humbert started brightly enough with no sign of the tension that had gripped him in the semi-final. But after that first game, he was under attack with every ball. 

Zverev dropped only two points on his first serve and three on his second – Humbert never came close to getting a break point. It wasn’t that the France No.1 could not do anything with the return, it was just that he could barely get a racket string on the ball.

When, early in the second set, he dropped his second service point – a fluffed forehand that sailed way out – the crowd cheered as if Humbert had won the set. Zverev smiled and shrugged; he was already a break up by then and within moments, he was leading 2-0. He could do almost nothing wrong.

When it came to his return games, Zverev was mopping up anything Humbert could throw at him. That wide, swinging delivery to the right-hander’s backhand, the serve that can do all sorts of damage to other opponents, was nullified. As for the second serve, Zverev was having that on toast.

Farewell to Bercy

It was supposed to be the dream final: a Frenchman ending the 39 years of tennis as the Accor Arena in Paris with a win for the home nation. Sadly for the crowd, the dream was not to be. But there was a moment of history in the result. When the Rolex Paris Masters began in 1986, its first winner was a German – a certain Boris Becker – and now, bringing the event’s time in Bercy to a close was another German, only the second ever to have won here.

“The last ever tennis match, I guess here,” Zverev said with a hint of sadness. “We’re moving to a new location but this stadium is absolutely beautiful. It’s one of the most beautiful stadiums that we have. The centre court is not the reason why we’re moving. The centre court is one of the most beautiful and prestigious in the world and to win my last match here is incredible.”