Wild wind turned a tennis tournament into something out of a video game
It’s like ‘Mario Tennis’ in real life!
A normally standard tennis tournament in Turkey turned into a wild scene like something out of a video game because of extreme wind.
Due to extreme wind in Antalya Challenger we had today two of the most incredible shots I've ever watched (and I've watched a lot of tennis): an underarm ace and a shot I cannot define for how lucky it was. Thanks to @UnArdeal and @marcos_z for pointing them out pic.twitter.com/QDPfNauyut
— Stefano Berlincioni (@Carretero77) December 7, 2021
Brutal winds have battered Turkey for much of last week, with gusts in Antalya reaching upwards of 60 miles per hour. This match between Cem İlkel and Ivan Nedelko had to be suspended when officials decided the wind was impacting the game too much.
It became impossible for players to serve traditionally without their overhead toss drifting too much to make contact, but that doesn’t really matter when a single underhand serve can become a knuckleball thanks to the wind.
Shortly following the underhand ace came one of the most bizarre tennis shots you’ll ever see, in which an out of control lob that normally would have landed in the stands, drifted over a court length to the left and became a winner.
Winds are expected to die down the rest of this week, presumably allowing the tournament to continue as normal, but for now we just have some of the most remarkable examples of weather effecting tennis in the history of the sport.
Personally, I’d like to see more wacky tennis. I’m not saying we need to subject the world’s best to this kind of stuff, but I’d pay to see people have to play in simulated cyclonic winds. My tastes are specific, and unconventional.