Gael Monfils is well-known around the tennis circuit for his supreme agility and outrageous court coverage. But the Frenchman's opponent in the fourth round of the French Open, Dominic Thiem, managed to outdo him with a moment of brilliance himself.
The stunning shot came in the third set, with fourth seed Thiem enjoying a two set advantage. Monfils drew Thiem to the net with a cunning drop shot and the Austrian darted off the baseline to play a delicate backhand drop.
It was Monfils' turn to race to the net and he sliced it down the centre, only for Thiem to screech down the court and fire a jaw-dropping forehand tweener, at a raging pace, to send the Court Philippe-Chartier into rapturous applause. Local hope Monfils himself looked stunned and lauded Thiem's terrific strokeplay.
Thiem explained on court: "There was no other choice to play that ball! Of course, it was so lucky that it went in. When a ball like this goes in, it's always a hot shot."
Theim went on to sail into the last-eight stage with a comfortable 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 win and will play Karen Khachanov or Juan Martin del Potro in the quarterfinals.
What is a tweener?
The tweener or between-the-legs shot is a tennis stroke where the player hits the ball through his/her legs. The typical scenario is when a player runs towards the ball, with his back to the net, in an attempt to return a lob/passing shot, and hits it between his/her legs.
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