Robin Haase's Wrists Are Made Of Rubber

Today at the Halle Open, Robin Haase dug around and came up with one of the most inventive and uncomfortable-looking shots of the season:

After a long exchange, Haase runs up to a short ball as if to chip a backhand down the line, but at the last moment abruptly flips his racket face over and flicks the ball crosscourt, leaving Richard Gasquet laughing and wondering what just passed him by. We can’t supply any answers, either—this contortion is neither forehand nor backhand. It takes a lot of flexibility to pull this off at game speed:

After the winner Haase raises a hand to apologize for skimming the net cord, but there’s no sense in apologizing for this kind of sweet improvisational burst. Gasquet went on to win the quarterfinal, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.