Jannik Sinner Dispels Corentin Moutet’s Michael Chang Tactic to Qualify for French Open 2024 Quarterfinals

Having won 10 Grand Slam matches in a row, Jannik Sinner is the man in form and arguably, the overwhelming favorite to win the French Open 2024. In these first three rounds, Sinner hasn’t really been tested by any of his opponents – Christopher Eubanks, Richard Gasquet, and Pavel Kotov. But the Italian was tested big time against the man whose underarm serves  impressed many at the French Open 2024, Corentin Moutet.

Corentin Moutet had stunned Nicolas Jarry in the first round and also defeated Alexander Shevchenko and Sebastian Ofner to make his way into the fourth round of the major.

During this Cinderella run, the 25-year-old has impressed the pundits and enthusiasts with his underarm serve. The hometown hero seemed to have taken a page out of Michael Chang’s book and attempted the peculiar serve 12 times against Ofner. As impressive as it may seem, Moutet went on to win 75% of the times (9 points out of 12).

Michael Chang, the American legend, is renowned for winning the 1989 French Open, the only Grand Slam of his career. But more so, it was the accuracy of his underarm serves that made him a legend in his own right and stand out from others.

So 2024 is the 35th anniversary of his title win, making it a huge co-incidence and something Chang’s fans were surely delighted to see from Moutet.

As this stat came out on X (formerly “Twitter”), fans on social media believed that Jannik Sinner had a lot to watch out for in the match against Corentin Moutet and they were proven right.

Thus, despite having entered the contest as the underdog, Moutet tried his best to not only win but entertain the crowd too. However, the Frenchman lost 6-2, 3-6, 2-6, 1-6. It is unlikely though that he will temper down on his underarm serves and here’s more on his new-found obsession.

Corentin Moutet and His Obsession With Underarm Serves

Corentin Moutet isn’t experimenting with anything new by using his underarm serves. For the entirety of his career, especially over the last 2 years, Moutet has significantly increased the frequency of his underarm serves.

During the Chengdu Open 2023, the Neuilly-sur-Seine native was extremely successful with those serves during the opening-round clash against Tao Mu. Following the double 6-2 win, Moutet even declared that he would be implementing the technique way more frequently.

“Yeah, I’m working hard on it. I think I have to do more. It’s working better than my normal serve. So I think I should do it lot. I think maybe every point in the future,” Moutet said.

Turns out, Corentin wasn’t joking when he made this statement. From the next tournament that he participated in after that, he was seen serving underarm more frequently.

Corentin Moutet has used this controversial serve unapologetically and that is admirable. But the only drawback of the same is that when he faces opponents like Jannik Sinner, who have a high level of skill and intelligence, he would have to be smarter with its use.

The French Open loss will make Moutet surely go back to the drawing board and make him realise that he has a powerful weapon to win more matches. But he needs to be unpredictable with it to succeed more in the future.