Are the greatest tennis serve methods currently halfway between overarm and underarm?
The Monday Tennis Briefing, where The Athletic will break down the news behind the events from the previous week on the court, is back.
The first 2010-born champion on the WTA Tour was born, a historic meeting took place in São Paolo, and a new tennis serve entered the canon this week.
Serve underarm or overarm? Why not both?
In the past ten years, the underarm serve has gone from a trick shot to a strategy, and players like Alexander Bublik and Nick Kyrgios have utilized it to their advantage. the extreme defensive posture of their adversaries. Even players who don’t have a particularly strong traditional serve have targeted some players who stand especially far back, like Daniil Medvedev.
Stefanos Tsitsipas challenged Daniel Altmaier about his use of the technique during the U.S. Open in August, after he lost their second-round encounter. Furthermore, during last week’s Davis Cup qualifiers, a prominent display of the unusual serve’s even weirder extension occurred.
Representing Hungary against Austria, the world’s 154th-ranked player The sort of serve that recreational players make when they first pick up a racket is the one that Zsombor Piros hit. He gave the ball a tiny toss before tapping it over the net to a skeptical Lukas Neumayer on the other side. Neumayer was outmaneuvered, and he was unable to send the ball back until it had bounced twice. He then glanced at the umpire, expecting that he would do something.
What Piros did was not unlawful unless he had been given a foot fault. Because he didn’t have to raise the ball up and over the net, the contact point offered him greater protection than a typical underarm serve. Furthermore, despite its peculiarity, underarm serves and other serves like this one are becoming more and more recognized for what they are: a valid method of disrupt an adversary rather than using a disgusting trick.
Park gamers worldwide may find solace in this.
Two victories for adolescents on the WTA Tour
Although women’s tennis has a history of teenage winners at the top level, changes in physicality and game style, as well as new procedures to safeguard players, have altered the sport. Burnout has caused that to slow down. There were 17 adolescents among the top 100 players at the beginning of the 2000 season; that number has since fallen to 5 after this year’s U.S. Open.
However, in the post-Grand Slam hinterland, where many of the finest players are resting, there are always prospects for up-and-coming players. Moreover, to end a 17-year drought, Iva Jović and Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah won championships in Guadalajara, Mexico, and São Paolo. Since September 2008, they are the first duo of teen champions on the WTA Tour in the same week.
At the age of 17, Jović won her first 500-level championship in Guadalajara by defeating an ailing Emiliana Arango, while Rakotomanga Rajaonah, 19, won her first 500-level title at the age of 19 after being 5-0 down in the beat Janice Tjen to win the 250-level SP Open after choosing the winning set of her first-round match in Brazil.
In the past year, Jović has established himself as a regular participant in the opening rounds of Grand Slams, coming close to making it to the third round of the U.S. Open. Rakotomanga Rajaonah, who was born in Madagascar and represented France, had only participated in one WTA Tour-level competition prior to this victory outside of a French Open wild card.
Maybe it should have been a bit of an indication: In Rouen, France, on her preferred surface, clay, the left-handed player defeated two top-100 opponents earlier this year.
A streak of victories on the road in the Davis Cup
Winning Davis Cup matches on foreign land is said to be very challenging.
The Czechs who traveled to Delray Beach, Florida; the Belgians who went to Sydney; and the Germans in Tokyo were not informed of this. The same is true for the Austrians in Debrecen, Hungary, the French in Osijek, Croatia, and the Argentines in Gröningen, Netherlands. Every recorded away victory and secured entry to the Davis Cup Finals in Bologna, Italy, in November.
Considering rankings and logistics, some of those victories were more unexpected than others. The Czechs had a lot of top-30 talent, including Jiří Lehečka and Jakub Menšík in singles and Tomáš Macháč in doubles. However, the Americans had Taylor Fritz, who was rated among the top five players in the world for the majority of the summer, and a genuine doubles team in Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram. Fritz and Tiafoe were very at ease, even if Tiafoe has had his highs and lows recently. Both of them reside just a short drive away from the Delray Beach Tennis Center.
Tiafoe was defeated in both of his singles games. On Saturday, Fritz was defeated by Lehečka, and that was it.
Give the Belgians due credit. At least Jordan Thompson, Alex de Minaur, Aleksandar Vukic, and the other Australians who competed in the U.S. Open had the opportunity to return home. For years, Lleyton Hewitt had lamented the temporary disappearance of home and away ties in the Davis Cup, as well as how this put his squad at a disadvantage. It was meant to be a layup.
Not really. The world according to Raphael Collignon No. 91, who recovered from cramps to defeat De Minaur in the opening game and then beat Vukic in the tie’s last match, came back from behind. a set that must be won in three. The three matches the Belgians required to win were secured when Zizou Bergs defeated Vukic in the opening match.
Pedro Martinez’s unexpected victory against a cramping Holger Rune in Spain was the sole home victory that flipped the match against Denmark. before Pablo Carreño Busta defeated Elmer Møller to advance the Spaniards, less Carlos Alcaraz, to the quarterfinals.
