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“And you, is your eyesight definitely failing?” Corentin Moutet outlasts Ugo Humbert in Lyon
Corentin Moutet saw off Ugo Humbert in the first round of the Grand Prix Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the ATP 250 in Lyon, through cramps and a wrist that remains an open question. A reporter who went back to that wrist got a question for an answer.
by Camille Vasseur · 1 min read
The scene unfolds in the press room, and it is We Love Tennis that reports it. A reporter goes back, for the second time, to the state of Corentin Moutet’s wrist: “Is your wrist definitely healed?” The world No. 94 replies: “And you, is your eyesight definitely failing?”
The exchange went on. “I don’t understand what you are telling me,” the reporter says. “Because I have no idea, I cannot know. What do you want me to tell you?” “I am rather reassured for you. I worry about you and you are making fun of me.” “I am not making fun of you, I worry about you too. At the US Open I worried because I was in pain; now it does not hurt any more.” “Time will tell,” he concluded.
A marathon settled in the tie-break
On court, the match went long. Moutet had not played since retiring in the US Open first round on 1 September, apart from a title at the Caluire event near Lyon. Against Humbert, the body set its terms: cramps, a wrist massage in the final set, two break points saved back to back in the seventh game. The cramps even earned him a time violation for taking too long to serve, as Sky Sports footage shows. After three hours and 21 minutes, the final-set tie-break settled it: 6-2, 6-7, 7-6.
Earlier in the day, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, 35, through qualifying and down to 290th in the world, had taken out Sebastian Baez, ranked 49th, 6-3, 6-4. The rest of the Lyon day, Balshaw and Kouamé included, is in our tennis essentials of the day.