With Alexander Bublik leading the way at Roland Garros, is the underarm serve here to stay?

ByJames Walker-Roberts

Updated 30/09/2020 at 08:29 GMT

Alexander Bublik has been championing the underarm serve at Roland Garros this year while there have also been other examples of 'unusual' play', such as Jelena Ostapenko deciding to return serve from nearly inside the service box against Madison Brengle.

Variety is the name of the game on clay, and that’s certainly been the case in the opening round of Roland Garros this year.

Perhaps due to the different conditions, perhaps due to the different time of years, players have been experimenting, trying out new tactics to win points. Among them is the underarm serve.

Nick Kyrgios has been a big fan of the underarm serve for some time - using it to catch out opponents who return from far behind the baseline, such as Rafael Nadal - but otherwise it isn't seen much on the tour. Is that about to change though?

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It has been used with mixed success at Roland Garros so far this year, with Alexander Bublik seemingly one of the best exponents of the shot. A week after angering an unsuspecting Cristian Garin with an underarm ace at the Hamburg Open, Bublik was at it again in his first-round French Open match against Gael Monfils.

The Frenchman, not shy of an unusual shot of his own, took it much better than Garin, and didn't seem to try and chase it down.

Watch Bublik ace Monfils with outrageous underarm serve

While there are those who would say an underarm serve is unsporting, Bublik explained that he does practice it a lot - but still thinks the success of it depends mostly on luck.

“To serve a good underarm serve is really tough, and I really practice it. I am only serving underarm in the ad court because it’s the only position you can really drop shot," he told the No Challenges Remaining podcast.

“I don’t really think of a big tactic at that moment, Gael was standing on the line and he still couldn’t get it because it was good timing and good luck. I think 50 per cent is luck, maybe 70 per cent.”

Daniil Medvedev also pulled out an underarm serve to save break point in his defeat to Marton Fucsovics, but it didn’t work quite as well for Monica Niculescu.

Her underarm serve was read by Danielle Collins, who raced up to the net and dispatched the ball away down the line before a loud shout of ‘come on’ and a glance towards Niculescu.

'Come on!' - Watch Collins' emotional response to underarm serve

Another unusual sight this week - along with long-sleeved tops and leggings - was Jelena Ostapenko returning serve from nearly inside the service box against Madison Brengle.

While Dominic Thiem was seen standing way back to return against Marin Cilic in his first-round match, Ostapenko clearly didn’t have as much respect for Brengle’s serve.

Roger Federer tried something similar a few years with the SABR (Sneaky Attack By Roger), which saw him move up into the court to return serves and take the ball much earlier than normal, sometimes on the half volley.

Federer said at the time: "It’s really hard to practice because I think it’s a little bit disrespectful to the opponent but at the same time, it’s so much fun to do it. When you fail it’s terrible, when you make it it’s wonderful."

What's next as Roland Garros enters round two on Wednesday?

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