By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, November 19, 2025
Picture credit score: Julian Finney/Getty
Corentin Moutet has flirted with the nice line between genius and insanity.
After an epic mind-numbing tweener miss that proved expensive in Davis Cup, Moutet conceded his shot choice “seems fairly silly.”
In case you missed it, Moutet was serving at 5-6, 15-all towards Belgium’s Raphael Collignon when he had a simple quick volley just a few toes from web.
As an alternative of hitting the traditional shot, Moutet badly bungled a ahead tweener try, after his opponent had already given up on the purpose.
Corentin Moutet tried this utterly pointless trick shot whereas up 6-2 5-6, 15-15 on Raphael Collignon of Belgium, resulting in France, not simply himself, shedding the set and the match, and now being liable to elimination within the Davis Cup Finals.
No phrases. pic.twitter.com/pnwyTgShKq
— Bastien Fachan (@BastienFachan) November 18, 2025
“What can I say? I made it many occasions. Individuals mentioned I’m a genius once I made it. Now they’re most likely going to say that I’m a clown,” Moutet mentioned afterward. “That’s how I really feel proper now.
I feel that the stress, the stress of the match, the emotion, that’s how I expressed it. I used to be tight on this
sport. So I feel that’s why I did it.”
That horrific miss value Moutet dearly.
A fired-up Collignon got here again from a set right down to defeat Moutet 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 in an exciting opening match. Zizou Bergs adopted with the 6-3, 7-6(4) victory over Arthur Rinderknech giving Belgium an insurmountable 2-0 lead within the best-of-three-match quarterfinal to ship Crew Belgium into its first Davis Cup semifinal since 2017.
A magical shotmaker at his finest, Moutet mentioned he regrets that tweener try.
“It’s onerous to do the great selection, even when for the folks it seems fairly silly to do that shot. Even for myself. I don’t know what to say,” Moutet mentioned. “It was an essential level. Will likely be a lot smarter to complete
with a volley. I mentioned I can not play once more this shot. If I must play it once more, I’d do totally different, for certain.
“Yeah, I imply, in the identical time it’s simple to criticize when it doesn’t go nicely, and say that it’s an awesome shot once I make it. So I’m attempting to not be too onerous on myself. In the identical time, I attempt to be trustworthy with myself, as nicely. I may do a lot better selections on this shot.”
