diff --git a/test/cpp/end2end/test_service_impl.cc b/test/cpp/end2end/test_service_impl.cc
index 4fa98c24f57..156ff8308ef 100644
--- a/test/cpp/end2end/test_service_impl.cc
+++ b/test/cpp/end2end/test_service_impl.cc
@@ -73,6 +73,10 @@ void CheckServerAuthContext(
 
 Status TestServiceImpl::Echo(ServerContext* context, const EchoRequest* request,
                              EchoResponse* response) {
+  // A bit of sleep to make sure that short deadline tests fail
+  gpr_sleep_until(gpr_time_add(gpr_now(GPR_CLOCK_MONOTONIC),
+                               gpr_time_from_millis(2, GPR_TIMESPAN)));
+
   if (request->has_param() && request->param().server_die()) {
     gpr_log(GPR_ERROR, "The request should not reach application handler.");
     GPR_ASSERT(0);