Ugo Humbert, one of the finest indoor players of the previous couple of seasons, will not enter this week's Paris Masters. Last year's finalist injured his back in the semi-final of last week's ATP 500 event in Basel.
Ugo retired in the semi-final against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, with his coach Jeremy Chardy gathering dark clouds over his participation at the home Masters 1000 event.
On Monday, Humbert announced his withdrawal, dropping 650 ATP points and dropping out from the top-30. The Frenchman joined many other players with late-season setback due to injury.
Ugo has won four indoor ATP titles from six finals. His career-best result came at last year's Paris Masters, beating Carlos Alcaraz en route to the title clash before suffering a 6-2, 6-2 defeat to Alexander Zverev.
The German had the upper hand from start to finish and sealed the deal in an hour and 15 minutes for his seventh Masters 1000 title. Humbert played well en route to his first final at the premium ATP level, becoming the first home player in the title match in Paris since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2011.
However, he could not go all the way in front of the home crowd after losing ground on serve and return. Alexander lost five points in eight service games, facing no break points and mounting the pressure on the other side.
Ugo served at only 52% and gave away half of the points in his games. He played against six break points and suffered four breaks to finish as the runner-up.
The 27-year-old Humbert signed to play in Metz in the final week of the regular season. However, the 2023 champion will likely skip another home event and wrap up his season, focusing on recovery ahead of 2026.
