Vienna, Austria, August 7, 2017 – Evandro Goncalves has been known as one of the best servers in beach volleyball for a while. However, the 27-year-old Brazilian took things to another level as he and partner Andre Loyola won the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships Vienna 2017 presented by A1 on Sunday.
The Rio 2016 Olympian set a new record at a World Championships by scoring directly from the line 42 times to surpass the mark he set in the Netherlands in 2015, when he amassed 30 aces.
“Every time I go to the line to serve it’s not only about me,” Evandro commented. “I am only able to take risks when serving because Andre and our staff trust me to do that. My performance also has a lot to do with my coach, Ed, who has been pushing me to my limit on serves for the past seven years. I think I’ve been serving really well for the past two years and I have acquired a lot of confidence because it’s what I do best.”
In the gold medal match against Austrians Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst, Evandro showcased his impressive serving skills when the hosts led the first set 20-17 and he scored three points in a row to avoid losing the set.
“I look at him like a super hero now,” Andre joked. “Honestly, I had never seen anything like that before. Evandro made the difference for us not only in the final match but through the entire tournament.”
To Evandro, though, mental strength was crucial for the Brazilians in Vienna.
“Serving was obviously very important to get us the win, but I think that our mental strength was also crucial,” he added. “Especially for Andre, who was playing his first World Championships and had to deal with the pressure of 10,000 fans cheering for our Austrian opponents. Hats off to our staff and our psychologist, who work really hard to keep us focused during matches.”