It’s always been interesting to me how far off some players stray from the traditional service motion. There are no 2 players with the exact same action, save for Andy Roddick and Gael Monfils, as from a young age they have developed their own personal tweaks.
However, I have no idea where this lot got their actions from, but in most cases they work. So if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
1. Brian Battistone
This has to weirdest and it makes no sense. He even had to have a custom two handled racket made! It also has to be the most inefficient service motion in history. It’s fun to watch though.
2. Karsten Braasch
Where does this action begin of end? Everything about Karsten was pretty funny. Smoking on changeovers, cold beers in training; his glasses was the most normal thing about him. This serve isn’t bad, just ridiculous.
3. Alex Dolgopolov
Blink and you miss it. No, seriously. It’s that quick. He somehow manages to generate power with such an upward trajectory and low ball toss. Growing up in cold Ukraine, he must have been eager to get matches over quickly.
4. John McEnroe
Talk about moving parts. Standing completely sideways, he’s barely looking at the other end of the court before whipping it in and getting to the net. It ain’t pretty but it’s effective.
5. Phillip Kohlschrieber
How could a man with one of the best looking back hands have a serve so bad looking? It beats me.
6. Florian Mayer
Most of Florian’s shots are fugly, but his serve is probably the fugliest. It’s certainly German engineered for power rather than style.
7. Andy Roddick
With both feet stuck together and barely any back scratch, it’s astonishing that Andy serves so fast. He is blessed with the kind of explosive twitch muscle that Usain Bolt would be proud of.
8. Domink Hrbaty
Passing aircraft see his ball toss it’s that high. By the time it comes back down, you could have played the point already. A high risk service action but The Dominator managed to do some damage with it.
9. Goran Ivanisevic
Perhaps the best serve in the history of tennis, Goran’s single action slingshot works perfectly. His stance has got to be the weirdest in history though.
10. Mariano Zabaleta
It’s not the worst, but still made my list. I’ve never been a fan of the 2 part serve where the arm comes up first, it looks pretty club level, but even some of the pros make do with it.