Rally of the week

It was already around 9 pm on the Center Court of Stuttgart’s MercedesCup when the fans became witnesses to one of the oddest rallys of the tournament, if not of the season.

It was 8-7 for Jan-Lennard Struff in the tie-break of the final set and the German having match ball. Struff played quite an excellent stop, but his French opponent was able to return the ball somehow what amounted to a – usually – easy volley winner for Struff. But Pouille anticipated the ball and what ensued was a volley duel on the smallest of imaginable spaces. In the end, Pouille saved the match ball and went on to win the next two points and the match.