Pablo Carreño Busta, a 30-year-old Spanish tennis player, a bronze medalist at the last Tokyo Olympics, was the star of the last day of the Australian Open, after scoring a rare point, to say the least, against his rival on duty , the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor.
It happened in the eighth game of the third set, when the Spaniard managed to break-point up. Then, in the middle of an exchange, when Carreno tried to lob the Dutchman over the top, Griekspoor stepped back to counter with a smash. However, his attempt was flawed: the ball, with a lot of spin as a result of the bad shot, barely passed the net.
The issue is that the ball was opening until it reached outside the field. The Hispanic, 21st in the world ranking, managed to get just enough to her when he returned to his opponent’s field… and when it seemed that it would be a point for Griekspoor, to the astonishment of all those present, he hit him from the outside, between the net and the umpire. His reaction said it all: not only did he confirm the break, but he scored an incredible point.
“I have seen it again, it has been strange”, the Spaniard confessed later at the conference. “It was an important point. I think I made a good return, he netted and hit a very good volley”.
“I got there as best I could, I shot a balloon that I think the wind made it very difficult for him to finish off, he hit it anyway. He was lucky that the ball went in. When I was running I saw that ball come back, because when you hit a smash with the frame of the racket and it comes out like that, it usually comes back”, he said.
And he completed: “I was lucky that it was on the side and not in the center of the court, because otherwise I would have had to jump the net and I am not Gael Monfils, so I was looking at the ball and the net. It was difficult, but once I got around the net I had the peace of mind to put it on the court, which was enough”.
Finally, Carreño Busta prevailed in five sets: 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-3), 3-6 and 6-4.