In this meeting, we went through all the emotions. From serenity to panic, to finally leave reassured. But one thing is certain; Alexis Lebrun is a fantastic reason not to be a professional table tennis player in his generation.
Alexis Lebrun's thunderous start to the match
Alexis Lebrun's last match dates back to the quarter-final of the WTT Champions in Montpellier, and a defeat against his little brother Félix, at the end of a crazy match. So for his return to competition, the Frenchman faced Lin Yun-Ju, 12th player in the world and defending champion. But from the first point of the game, the tone is set. Alexis is serving, and he sends him off the table. A perfect summary of the part that follows.
The Frenchman is led 4-0, 7-2 then 11-5. Same in the second round. The Taiwanese pockets the first two sets, and it is difficult to see how the Montpellier native could win the following three sets. Then at 1-3 in the third round, it was the click for Lebrun. He inflicted a 5-0 on Lin Yun-Ju, even taking advantage of a point bouncing first on the Taiwanese's table, to finally return to his own. Faced with so many positive signs for him, Alexis avoids Fanny (11-9).
And like his opponent, he did it again with the same score in the following set (11-9), even though he was trailing 6-2. Two rounds everywhere, it's becoming unbearable while we're only in the first round of this tournament. We will never last.
Who dared to criticize table tennis?
Here we are in this fifth and final set of the match. We will thus know if Alexis has made an infamous comeback, or if he will run into trouble. And it's not the point of the tournament that he won that will reassure us. More than a dozen exchanges to finally return all the Taiwanese's smashes and explode him in flight with a final forehand from 3 meters in the air. No really, serenity is not in our camp.
Lebrun didn't even end up leading 10-9, and getting a match point. But unlike the European Championships, the Frenchman is much more fair-play with his opponents, and misses the match point. Then in the process, Lin Yun-Ju won the next point, 11-9, match point for him. But the Taiwanese doesn't even need to make a winning shot before Alexis screws up his backhand. Trailing two sets to nothing, Lebrun came back to 2-2 to finally lose 3-2, and crash against the Wall of Hope.
