Benoit Paire chugs a beer during match, shocks Casper Ruud by still winning the point at UTS London, 2023

Benoit Paire and Casper Ruud recently squared off against each other at the ongoing UTS Grand Final 2023 in London.

Paire was last seen in action in the Maia challenger tournament, where he lost in the final to Nuno Borges. On the other hand, Casper Ruud's last match ended in a defeat against Francisco Cerundolo in the first round of Paris Masters.

At the UTS Grand Final 2023, Paire plays with the moniker The Rebel, while Ruud plays as The Ice Man. Both of them are placed in Group A in the league, which also includes Diego Schwartzman and Andrey Rublev. Rublev and Ruud have qualified for the final four by securing the top two places in the group.

While Ruud defeated Paire in straight sets, a hilarious incident occurred during their encounter.

Between the points, Paire drank a beer from the crowd. As he was chugging the beer, Ruud had already begun serving, due to the 15 seconds between points rule.

However, Paire somehow managed to return the ball in time and ended up winning the point to stun the Norwegian.

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What is the Ultimate Tennis Showdown?

Wu Yibing with UTS trophy - The Zeus Trophy

The Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) is an international tennis league that was established in 2020 by Patrick Mourataglou and Alex Popyrin - the father of Australian tennis player Alexei Popyrin. It is a tournament where eight top players compete in fast-paced matches to win the Zeus Trophy.

The matches consist of four quarters of eight minutes each. The first player to win three quarters wins the match. In case of a tie, the match goes to a sudden death. There is only one serve and no more than 15 seconds between points.

The UTS is a four-day event. It begins with an All-Star Skills event to launch the tournament. The next two days consist of the round-robin fixtures, where six matches are held per day with all players on the court.

On the final day, the final four players contest the semifinals, following which two players progress to the final, where the winner is crowned the UTS champion.

UTS has a loosened code of conduct, and players and coaches are mic'd up for interviews between quarters. It also has a DJ and MC on the court. Players also use a moniker of their choosing.

Here is a list of participants of the current edition - Andrey Rublev is Rublo, Holger Rune is The Viking, Diego Schwartzman is El Peque, Casper Ruud is The Ice Man, Benoit Paire is The Rebel, Alexander Bublik is The Bublik Enemy, Gael Monfils is La Monf and Jack Draper is The Power