Corentin Moutet is not a stranger to controversy and he has landed in it once again at the Davis Cup.
Moutet was recently involved in an altercation with Alexander Bublik at the Paris Masters, after he was beaten by the player he had previously had issues with.
Looking to put that behind him, the world number 35 was looking to end the best season of his career representing France at the Davis Cup Finals.
With both Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner absent from the Davis Cup Finals this year, France may have thought they had a chance to win the title, but instead they have fallen at the first hurdle, with Moutet receiving backlash for what he did during his match.
Corentin Moutet responds to criticism for hitting trick shot at the Davis Cup Finals
Moutet was taking on Raphael Collignon in the first rubber of France’s quarterfinal tie against Belgium, and he made a strong start to the match.
After winning the first set, Moutet was looking to close out the match in straight sets, before making a decision which caught many people off guard.
With Moutet serving to stay in the second set at 5-6 15-15, he found himself on top of the rally with a routine volley to put the ball away and win the point.
Instead of going for that volley, Moutet elected to let the ball drop and attempted a trick shot through his legs, which did not even make it over the net.
Moutet proceeded to get broken and lost the match in three sets, resulting in him receiving a lot of backlash for potentially costing his nation’s chances with that decision.
When asked about the decision to make this shot, Moutet admitted that he felt like a clown and suggested that he did it as a result of stress.
“I expected this question, not the first one, but I expected,” Moutet said in his post-match press conference. “What do you want me to say? Was it the best shot to play? I’m not sure. Or is the best choice to do on this ball? I’m not sure, as well.
“What can I say? I made it many times. People said I’m a genius when I made it. Now they’re probably going to say that I’m a clown. That’s how I feel right now.
“I think that the stress, the tension of the match, the emotion, that’s how I expressed it. I was tight on this game. So I think that’s why I did it. It’s hard to do the good choice, even if for the people it looks quite stupid to do this shot. Even for myself. I don’t know what to say.
“It was an important point. Will be much smarter to finish with a volley. I said I cannot play again this shot. If I would have to play it again, I would do different, for sure.
“Yeah, I mean, in the same time it’s easy to criticize when it doesn’t go well, and say that it’s a great shot when I make it. So I’m trying not to be too hard on myself. In the same time, I try to be honest with myself, as well. I could do much better choices on this shot.”
After Moutet lost to Collignon, Arthur Rinderknech was also beaten by Zizou Bergs, as France crashed out of the Davis Cup at the quarterfinal stage.
Raphael Collignon says what he thinks about Corentin Moutet’s decision
One player who was definitely pleased with Moutet’s decision was Collignon, who has continued his impressive run at the Davis Cup after beating Alex de Minaur in Sydney back in September.
In his own press conference, Collignon was asked if he thinks he got a bit lucky to beat Moutet, and the Belgian was not shy to admit that he thinks that may have been the case.
“Yeah, I think I was maybe a bit lucky that he chose to do this tweener at 6-5 because it was tough for me,” answered Collignon. “I was not playing so good. He was dominating the match.
“But I think maybe at that moment the momentum switched a bit, which I managed to win that second set. Then I think I deserved to win at the end because I was playing better in the third set. I had a lot of opportunities. I was having break points every game or Love-30 or 15-30. Me, I was winning very easy my service games.
“Maybe yeah, at that time the momentum switch a little bit. Yeah, maybe I was a bit lucky. I think in the third set I deserved to win.”
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When asked a follow-up question about Moutet’s failed trick shot attempt, Collignon claimed that he could not relate to this choice.
“Yeah, I didn’t understand because me, I would never do this (smiling),” added the world number 86. “Yeah, is this type of guy who can bring magic but also miss a lot, like this tweener. But yeah, I think he did also a lot of good things in the net, magical shots during the match.
“I was just fighting for the ball. Maybe it was a bit too easy for him and he wanted to try this. Yeah, I don’t know what he did, but thanks to him (smiling).”
Belgium have never won the Davis Cup before, having twice finished as runners-up in 2015 and 2017, but they are now just two wins away from the title in Bologna.
However, potentially standing in their way in the next match is two-time defending champions Italy, who despite being without Sinner still have a strong line-up with Flavio Cobolli, Lorenzo Sonego and Matteo Berrettini all in their squad.
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