The French love their soccer. They won the World Cup last summer and, as current hosts, are among the favorites to lift the Women’s World Cup this summer.
Even the country’s tennis stars are catching football fever.
During a recent first-round match at the Noventi Open in Germany, Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Benoit Paire showed off some impressive soccer skills on Tuesday.
Paire lost his racket on the serve and didn’t have time to pick it up before Tsonga’s return. So Paire, midpoint, switched the game to soccer tennis.
Tsonga playfully continued the point using his head, feet and chest. The point continued until Paire attempted a scissor kick, which he hit straight into the ground to lose the point.
Tennis and soccer skills on point pic.twitter.com/jVfkrekieO
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) June 19, 2019
I’d like to think Paire lost the point at that last moment on the scissor kick instead of when he began kicking the ball. So I will.
Tsonga won the match 6-4, 7-5 and will play Roger Federer in the second round on Thursday. Federer once considered devoting his life to soccer instead of tennis, so maybe we’ll get some more soccer tennis.
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