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Busted Racquet

Tue Aug 30 09:29am EDT

Video: Post-match handshake turns into awkward post-match kiss

By Chris Chase

Cheek-to-cheek kisses are fraught with possible disaster. What if you and your kissing partner both lean the same way and you have to do a weird craning of the neck to plant the kiss? Then, do you actually put lips to cheek or press a cheek against one another and kiss the air? And how much cheek or lips do you apply? Are we doing a firm Godfather-style smooch or a dainty Zsa Zsa Gabor one?  When do you opt for the more ethnic double-sided kiss? What if, God forbid, you both lean the same way and almost touch lips and then, to compensate, you both turn your head the same way and begin the cumbersome process of awkwardly mirroring each others movements while trying to break free?

Every single one of those things happened on Monday night when Grigor Dimitrov tried to congratulate Gael Monfils with a kiss after their first-round match at the U.S. Open.

Dimitrov appeared to be going for a lip kiss at the start, which began the weirdness. My guess is that he was momentarily caught off-guard by his own awkwardness, sort of like when you respond to someone's greeting with "good, how are you?" even though they haven't asked how you're doing. (Or when you tell the waitress "you too" after she says "enjoy your meal.")

Monfils won the match in straight sets. Dimitrov will doubtlessly be going for the handshake next time.

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