WATCH: Alexander Bublik gives racquet to ball kid during must-win game in Montpellier title defense

Giving your racquet to a ball kid or someone in the crowd, and letting the lucky recepient show their stuff: it’s a time-honored tradition in tennis. Exhibition tennis, that is.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Alexander Bublik crossed that line. Seemingly on a mission to bring exo tennis to the pro tour, the incredibly talented Kazakh’s canon of crazy shots live in YouTube lore. Some video titles include:

• Top 10 Unreal Alexander Bublik Shots! (So Far)
• Alexander Bublik Being ICONIC For 15 Minutes 🍿
• 15 Minutes Of Alexander Bublik MADNESS In 2021!

We can add another one to that canon—sort of.

On Friday, Bublik decided it was time to let someone else swing his Tecnifibre at the Open Occitanie, in Montpellier, France. The fourth seed trailed Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-3, 5-1, so a comeback was unlikely. Still, this was a quarterfinal match, not a first-rounder.

Oh, and Bublik was also the defending champion.

Maybe the world No. 39 was trying to change the momentum—Kovacevic didn’t look too eager to play along, before letting the ball kid know to hit a serve:

The “point” ended after just two swings. To Bublik’s credit, he did hold serve.

“This is what it’s come to,” an announcer said. “Nothing else has thrown [off] Aleksandar Kovacevic, what about a change in opponent?”

A few real points later, Kovacevic closed out the match, 6-3, 6-2.