Humbert says he played in Monte-Carlo with broken hand
The Frenchman said he suffered the break in a freak accident in his hotel room
© Tennis Majors / Psnewz
Frenchman Ugo Humbert sported a huge strapping on his right hand during his first-round match in Monte-Carlo on Tuesday, a match he lost 6-4 in the third set to Alexei Poyprin of Australia.
And the left-hander revealed that he had played the match with a broken hand.
“I broke my fifth metacarpal bone,” he told reporters in French. “I fell and I hit my hand against a bedside table. I was in my bedroom. I heard “crack,” and I cracked the bone. It was just after the match against Gael (Monfils, in the UTS event in Nimes). “At the hotel, I was in a hurry and I slipped.”
Humbert had not mentioned the injury when talking to the press in Monte-Carlo on Sunday, saying on Tuesday that he had been testing out lots of different bandages and waiting for a splint to be created.
“I used the splint since yesterday,” he said. “It changed, because with just the bandage it was hurting a lot because of the vibrations, but with the splint, it helped me. Of course I can’t cover my backhand, but I can hit it.
“It was hurting a lot. I was proud of going out there, and now, after the match, I just had an ultrasound and it shows it didn’t get worse after that match. It’s a good thing. And the doctor said if you can use the splint, you can play if it doesn’t hurt too much. But it did hurt, so I had an x-ray on Sunday morning and an ultrasound after this match.”
Humbert planning to play in Munich next week
Humbert is due to play in Munich next week and though doctors said the best thing is to rest, he does not want to stop playing.
“They said either you stop for three weeks and you come back after that and maybe you’ll feel better, or you play but the healing time might be longer,” he said.
“So I can’t stay sitting around drinking Actimel and doing nothing. It makes me crazy not being able to go and play. I want to try, even if I lose. I’m very proud that I’m able to go on that court. I chose to go to Munich. This is something I never do. Maybe it’s better for me, because the clay is very slow there.”
