Who is Quentin Halys, the Man Who Impressed at Gstaad With His ‘Floorhand’ Winner?

French Tennis player Quentin Halys left everyone stunned on Friday when he hit a brilliant forehand while lying on the floor during the Gstaad Open game against Gustavo Heide. This led to a flurry of interest in Halys, who took a lot of time to catch fans’ eyeballs. So who is he?

Halys won the 2014 French Open with men’s doubles partner Benjamin Bonzi during his junior career. He also achieved a career-best ranking of World number 3 in his junior career. Halys made his grand slam debut at the 2016 French Open where he entered as a wildcard. He then went on to play in the 2016 Australian Open as a wildcard. His US Open debut came in the year 2021 while the following year he played Wimbledon for the first time.

It was in the Miami Open 2022, when for the first time he reached the third round of a Masters 1000 event. His first major third round came when he beat Dan Evans and Aleksandar Vukic in the first two rounds at the Wimbledon 2023.

He suffered a setback when in June 2024, he fell down by more than 150 ranks in the ATP rankings to fall out of the top 200 as he was placed at world number 223. He then qualified for the 2024 Wimbledon, defeating Christopher Eubanks and 21st seed Karen Khachanov to his second-ever third round in the slam. Following his entry in the final of the Gstaad Open, he was successfully able to return to the top 150, although he lost the final to Matteo Berrettini.

Despite his loss, the tournament did bring many positives for Quentin as he not only reached his first-ever ATP final but also played one of the best shots of the tournament.

Halys’ ‘shot of the year’ at Gstaad Open

While playing against Heide in the quarter-final, Halys hit a beautiful shot when he fell down on the turf during a rally. However, this didn’t stop him from continuing the rally as he hit a forehand from the ground, earning a point for himself.

 

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Fans were stunned by this shot of Halys as the video went viral. While one wrote, “Damn, that forehand is so good, even when he’s lying on the ground he hits better than me,” another fan termed it ‘shot of the year’. “Better than many top 100 forehands,” said another fan.

Halys then went on to beat the German Tennis player J.L. Struff in the semis to reach the final of the Gstaad Open where he suffered a loss against Italy’s Matteo Berrettini.