Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune grew up together on the ATP Tour and they played a very fun game in Toronto recently.
If you're wondering why anybody would play with a racquet that has half of its strings missing, then you're just like many tennis fans. Well, Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune did just that at the Canadian Open in Toronto, playing a tie-break to 10 with very unusual racquets.
The racquets had only strings in the middle forcing the players to be very precise with their hand-eye coordination in order to hit the ball at all. If they weren't they would see the ball simply go through the racquet.
Rune: Okay Carlos. I've got a challenge for your. Are you up for it ?
Alcaraz: Of course.
Rune: Here's what's happening.
It's a tiebreak to 10 but today our racquets are looking very different. We're missing more than half of our strings so hitting it perfectly and right out of the centre is the only option.
Alcaraz was pretty stunned by the challenge but was up for it. The Spaniard remained confident even though he struggled a bit to start the tie-break. The players battled with the Spaniard ripping a signature forehand that earned some heavy praise from Rune.
Still, the Danish superstar proved his words correct by outlasting Alcaraz and beating him in the tiebreak 10-6. Rune was very happy with the man as Alcaraz bemoaned the loss as he walked over to shake Rune's hand.
I tried. Not enough. You deserve it.
It was an interesting showcase of skill because the racquets looked pretty unplayable. It just showed how good these guys are and that's normal. After all, they're Top 10 ranked players. If you want to see how that looked like, check out the video below.
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