Lajal, ranked 226th at present, has seen his profile rise in the past year, following the retirement of Anett Kontaveit, previously Estonia's top player by far, and helped along by his putting up a good fight against Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) in round one at this year's Wimbledon Championships – a tournament which Alcaraz went on to win overall.

This paved the way for the end-of-season match, announced in the summer and with Monfils set up as Lajal's opponent.

The score in sets on Thursday evening was 4:6, 6:3, 6:3 to Monfils, 38, now ranked 55th in the world. Lajal served well and put in some impressive smashes as well as good up-to-the-net work, and both players seemed intent on entertaining the audience, with some lengthy-ish rallies popping up from time to time.

The Estonian took the first set despite Monfils winning one of his service games practically with all aces, but it was the Frenchman, who said post-match this was his first time ever in Tallinn, who took the second set, having gone ahead in games fairly early on.

In the decider, at one point Monfils, dissatisfied with his play, pressed one of the ballgirls into action to take his racquet for the point (see gallery).

Lajal responded in kind, and since it was his service, the ballboy he picked had to get a good serve over the net – which he managed, in front of a large crowd including the prime minister – taking not only the point but the whole game, on behalf of Lajal after the service was not returned.

In the end it was not enough, however, as Monfils hung on to take the set and with it the match, and a tidy €30,000 check, all in the space of an hour and 45 minutes.

Lajal told ERR after the game that he had felt some nerves playing against a two-time Grand Slam semifinalist in such a setting. "I've never played in front of such a large Estonian audience before. At first, I felt quite a lot of pressure, but it passed, and in the end, it was really enjoyable," he said.

"But I felt really good; it was a pretty good match. Even though the result was ultimately negative, overall, I can say the experience was amazing," Lajal added.

The season as a whole finished in the black after a shaky start – Lajal won 38 matches to 30 losses and put in some notable wins in some of the ATP challenger tournaments held in the U.S. over the fall.

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