Gael Monfils is popular among tennis fans for his ‘trick’ shot, which is nothing but simply an art. Recently, Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime and Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya were asked to try and replicate that shot.
Cincinnati Open’s official social media page posted a video of the duo being challenged to perform the ‘trick’ shot as good as Monfils. They were given 10 balls each to pull off the perfect shot.
The video started with both Auger-Aliassime and Kalinskaya being shown a clip of Monfils performing his signature shot in a match.
Felix found the shot ‘pretty good’ whereas Kalinkskaya felt that she definitely ‘cannot slay like that’ but also said that she would try her best to perform it as good as she could.
The two then headed to the court to try it out. The Canadian was first to ‘break the ice’ and tried playing the shot a few times.
Though he was able to give a ‘decent’ performance, he wasn’t close to perfection. The Russian star then dived on the court with her racquet in hand, ready to beat the Canadian.
However, she too wasn’t close to being good and accepted that she was even ‘slower’ than Auger-Aliassime. She tried hitting a few more times, the ball bouncing too high in all of them, making her accept that it was ‘actually more difficult than she felt’.
The Canadian once again appeared on the court to complete his remaining turns but it wasn’t until his last chance that he felt his try was ‘pretty good’.
Auger-Aliassime & Kalinskaya Attempt To Recreate Famous Monfils Trick Shot! #CincyTennis | @felixtennis pic.twitter.com/XoCYcI0ek3
— Cincinnati Open (@CincyTennis) August 18, 2024
The Russian again went into action and this time, after a few failed attempts, she was finally able to pull off the shot as even Felix believed that her last attempt was ‘perfect’. This made Kalinskaya tease her competitor as she told him, “I am better.”
However, the two, at the end of the video, asked to call Monfils as the judge and he will decide who performed better.
Though Monfils has not been able to win a Grand Slam title yet, his impact on the sport cannot be ignored. The French star has won a total of 12 ATP titles, the last one being the Stockholm title (inner hard court). At the same time, his way of playing is adored by both fans and his colleagues in the tennis world.
Not being too orthodox with his technique and shots, Monfils has always been extremely flamboyant on the court. The Frenchman was impressive recently at the Cincinnati Open, defeating the second seed Carlos Alcaraz in the Round of 32 itself.
After that, in a span of less than 24 hours, Monfils gave another youngster, Holger Rune a run for his money, nearly pulling off a win against him too. The 37-year-old fought hard but lost the second and third sets, 3-6, 4-6 after winning the first, 6-3.
