Andy Murray defended his use of an underarm serve at Wimbledon. Last night the 35-year-old rallied from a set down to defeat Australia's James Duckworth 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 on centre yesterday and book his spot in the second round.
But during the third set, with the score at one set all, the former world number one had broken his opponent and was looking to consolidate it. When 15-0 up in the game, Murray caught everyone by surprise by utilising an underarm serve.
It nearly didn't pay off as Duckworth was able to scramble forwards and make the return, but was caught out with a lob and before the Brit went on to hold his serve and win the third set. Murray has used the tactic in a previous match with Carlos Alcaraz at Indian Wells and took a page from the playbook of Nick Kyrgios, who has utilised the underarm serve many times in the past.
It seems to be divisive as some players have received boos from fans when adopting the tactic. However, those in attendance on centre court yesterday evening rather enjoyed the move. "He changed his return position. That's why I did it," Murray said when explaining his reason for using the underarm serve.
"He was standing very close to return. He was struggling a little bit on the first-serve return, so he stepped probably two meters further back. As soon as I saw him step further back, I threw the underarm serve in. I personally have no issue with players using it. I never have. Certainly more and more players have started returning from further, further behind the baseline now to give themselves an advantage to return. The underarm serve is a way of saying, If you're going to step back there, then I'm going to possibly throw that in."
He added: "I don't know why people have ever found it potentially disrespectful or... I don't know. I've never understood that. It's a legitimate way of serving. I would never use an underarm serve if someone was standing on the baseline because I think it's a stupid idea because they're going to track it down and it's easy to get.
"If they stand four or five meters behind the baseline, then why would you not do that to try to bring them forward if they're not comfortable returning there? Tactically it's a smart play. No one says it's disrespectful for someone to return from six meters, whatever, five meters behind the baseline to try to get an advantage.
"So I used it not to be disrespectful to him but to say, If you're going to step further back to return the serve to give yourself more time, then I'm going to exploit that." After falling behind, Murray, who played for the first time since making the Stuttgart final due to an abdominal injury, found his best tennis before going on to close out the match in two hours and 43 minutes under the centre court roof.
Murray, who has never lost before the third round at Wimbledon, next faces former semi-finalist John Isner, who he has never lost to in eight previous meetings. The big-serving American needed five sets to beat French qualifier Enzo Couacaud. "I did well to rebound after the first set,” Murray shared. “He likes playing on grass, he was playing very well, once I started playing my returns a bit more as the match went on I felt a bit more comfortable and did well to get through it."
Commenting on his physical condition, Murray said: "The last few days when I've been serving was fine. I went to get a scan, an ultrasound scan on it on Saturday after my practice just to see how it was progressing. It was all clear for the first time on the scans, which is really positive. In the match today it was absolutely fine."
