By Gianluca Sartori
No second serve, sets with limited time, TV interviews during changeovers. The chair umpire calling players with nicknames and the introduction of some special cards which players can decide to use during the match, forcing their opponent to do serve&volley or asking for the next two points to count double.
All of this and even more is a part of Ultimate Tennis Showdown, an exhibition tournament which took place at Mouratoglou Academy in Biot (France) on the 24th and the 25th of May.
It was Frenchmen Corentin Moutet who lifted the trophy after beating American Taylor Fritz in the final (3-1) which closed a two-day span made of quality tennis.
“I like to play exhos, because they allow us to feel more free to show our emotions. And I’m very happy I was able to win this tournament, I’ve played here two times before but I wasn’t good e pigi to compete”, Moutet said.
The field of the players involved guaranteed a high quality of play: seven out of eight players were in the Top 40 of ATP rankings. The lower-ranked player was Moutet himself. He produced good tennis and managed to adapt better than the opponents – Medvedev, Schwartzman, Dimitrov then replaced by Mahut, Garin, Fognini, Bublik and Fritz – to the particular set of rules which featured in the competition, believed to be a kind of a laboratory to make tennis more attractive for a younger fanbase.
Getting used to the new set of rules wasn’t easy for every player, but they seized the opportunity to get some match play under their belts before Roland Garros in an unconventional way of training. Italy was represented by Fognini, who lost all of the matches he played (Fritz, Moutet and Medvedev were his opponents). Medvedev, No.2 in the ATP Rankings, wasn’t at bis best either. losing to Moutet and Fritz and showing once again that he doesn’t feel at ease on red clay.
After his elimination, Medvedev didn’t delve into the matter: “I feel good, I think I’m improving my conditions. I look forward to Roland Garros and I really hope I’ll be able to play well. Coming here was a good idea due to the good level of the competition. Generally speaking, it was a good training for Paris even if I didn’t make it to she semis.”
