Czech Tennis star Tomas Machac has been hailed for pulling off the ‘shot of the tournament’ against Daniil Medvedev.
Machac had a difficult task ahead of him when he was pitted against the former World No.1 in the third round of the French Open. The opening four games did not see any breaks as both players held their serves strongly in what was a solid, but also edgy, beginning to the contest.
However, Machac earned himself two break points in the fifth game to give himself the perfect opportunity to break serve and threaten a shock on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Not only did he do that, he managed to do it by using his left hand.
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With the score at 15-40, Medvedev took control with a thunderous volley down the tee line which was only just returned by the World No.65. The Russian then ran across his backhand to unleash two zipping, inside-out forehands to Machac’s backhand.
Medvedev sneaked into the net and placed a delicate volley to Machac’s back-hand, completely wrong-footing himself in the process. Out of desperation, Machac, who was in the splits at the time, moved his racket from his right hand to his left and just about swiped a return back over the net.
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The Russian volleyed the ball into the same position, wrong-footing the Czech again. With his left hand again, Machac, somehow, hooked a wonderful forehand down the line and into the corner, leaving Medvedev frozen in his position.
As well as earning a standing ovation from the shocked crowd, it also earned him the first break of serve in the match. “That was unreal son,” one tennis fan said on social media. “So impressive! Such athleticism,” another fan said.
(Image: Getty Images)
British tennis player Pippa Horn, who was on co-commentary duty, described the effort as, “The shot of the tournament”. However, Medvedev would go on to break back and win the first set 7-6 (7-4). He would go on to win the second 7-5 before watching a resurgent Machac snatch the third set 6-1.
However, he rediscovered his best tennis to win the fourth set 6-4, setting up a fourth-round clash against Australian ace Alex de Minaur. “It was a very hard match,” said Medvedev. “I’m happy I stayed consistent despite some tough moments in the third set.”