After his 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-4 victory, Murray explained in his post-match press conference that the decision to use the uncommon shot, more often used by his friend and fellow star of tennis Nick Kyrgios, was a tactical decision. a.
Curiously, Murray’s execution of the serve wasn’t particularly precise, shooting too high and too long, but he won the point anyway.
“He [Duckworth] changed his position back, that’s why I did it,” Murray told reporters. “He was standing very close to the back. He was having a bit of trouble on the return of the first serve, so he probably backed off two yards. As soon as I saw him pull back further, I threw the underarm (underarm) serve.
“I personally don’t have any problem with players using it. I never had one. Certainly more and more players have started coming back further and further behind the baseline now to give an advantage to come back.
“The underarm serve is a way of saying, ‘If you’re going to back down there, then maybe I’ll add that. “”
There seems to be the unusual notion among a small minority of tennis fans that underhand serve is somehow disrespectful to the opposing player. Murray disagrees.
“I don’t know why people found that potentially disrespectful,” he said. “I never understood that. It’s a legitimate way to serve. I would never use an underarm serve if someone was standing on the baseline because I think it’s a dumb idea because they’ll find it and it’s easy to get.
“If they’re standing four or five yards behind the baseline, then why wouldn’t you do that to try to get them forward if they’re not comfortable getting back there? Tactically, it’s “It’s a smart game. No one is saying it’s disrespectful for someone to come back from six yards, whatever, five yards behind the baseline to try to gain an advantage.
“So I used it not to disrespect him but to say, ‘If you’re going to back off even further to return the serve to give you more time, then I’m going to exploit that.'”
