If you’re used to watching singles tennis, or no tennis at all, the above may be unrecognizable.
Doubles tennis is a sport unto itself, and points are largely won and lost at the net. Its players rely a little less on foot speed and groundstrokes and a little more on volleys and improvisation. This was taken to its logical extreme in one point from yesterday’s quarterfinal women’s doubles match between Anna-Lena Groenefeld/Kveta Peschke and Chan Yung-jan/Martina Hingis. (Yes, that’s former world No. 1, three-Grand-Slams-before-turning-17 Martina Hingis, now aged 36 and many years past being a serious singles contender. Some stars have extended their careers into the less running-intensive, if also less lucrative doubles game.)
Anyway, here’s the point, a masterclass in twitchy reflexes. Everyone got a piece of it:
Amazingly, the women managed to surpass this effort later in the match.