Humbert confesses: "I didn't achieve what I set out to do".

Ugo Humbert's Tokyo tournament was of a very high standard.

Having qualified for the final, where he will face his compatriot Arthur Fils, the French number 1 agreed to answer questions from L'Équipe.

He explains that the main reason he's back to such a high level is that he's accepted that he missed out on his objective at the start of the year: to qualify for the end-of-year Masters, the tournament which brings together the 8 best players of the previous season.

Humbert declared: "If I'm playing freely this week, it's because I haven't achieved the objective I set myself and I've moved on.

I wanted to finish in the top eight at the Race and qualify for the Masters. That was my goal at the start of the season. Today, I'm too far down the rankings, so the question no longer arises.

I've burnt myself out with this... By wanting to play every week, I've mismanaged my calendar and not done things as I should have.

As a result, I burnt out mentally. Throughout the American tour, and especially at the US Open, I had no energy left.

In fact, I'm still learning. Winning a tournament eats up a lot of your energy. Mentally, I'm going to look hard.

When I won Marseille at the beginning of the year, just afterwards, I was burnt out. You think you can go on and on, but you can't see it coming.

I think I'm better at managing the moments when I need to rest and take time for myself. That's the key to my performance."