Gstaad, Switzerland, 19th July, 2021 : It might be time to call Benoit Paire King of the Drop Volley.
The Frenchman hit an outrageous shot on Monday at the Swiss Open Gstaad, carving a backhand drop volley with so much backspin that it bounced back to his side of the net before his opponent, Jozef Kovalik, could get to it.
The shot came at 1-2 40/30 in the second set, and Paire went on to defeat Kovalík 6-3, 7-6(2) in one hour and 25 minutes.
This was not the first time that Paire has hit an incredible drop volley. At the 2015 Rolex Paris Masters, Paire slid into a backhand drop volley that nearly hit his own nose before barely squeaking over to Gilles Simon’s side of the court and bouncing back into the net. Simon went on to win that match in three sets.
Paire, who is the sixth seed this week in Gstaad, will next play Tallon Griekspoor or Juan Ignacio Londero.
Action from ATP 250 – Swiss Open Gstaad – Day 2 – ATP Singles – Round 1 will be live on EUROSPORT and EUROSPORT HD from 14:00 Hrs (02:00 pm IST) onwards on Tuesday, 20th July, 2021.