Lorenzo Musetti attempted an underarm serve on match point during his 2022 Hamburg Open semi-final match against Francisco Cerundolo, but it didn’t work, costing him the game and nearly the set.
Musetti is one of the most talented youngsters in the sport, primarily known for his exceptional clay-court tennis. He was a teenager when he won two sets against Novak Djokovic at the 2021 Roland Garros, proving how great he could be on the surface.
He’s even better now and enjoying a very good week at the ATP 500 event in Hamburg, where he booked a spot in the final after beating Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6(3).
That win almost didn’t happen in straight sets after the Italian did something rather fascinating on match point at 5-4 in the second set. He attempted an underarm serve, which caught everybody off guard—except Cerundolo, who was ready for it and won the point.
Musetti then went on to lose that game, complicating the match even further. Luckily for him, though, he was able to win the tie-break and escape the match in two sets, which could have easily gone differently.
Had he lost that set, he might have even lost the third, and then the underarm serve move would have seemed even more absurd than it already appeared. The Italian explained after the match why he tried it.
He saw Cerundolo standing far back and thought it might work, but it didn’t. When the second match point came around, Musetti knew better and opted for a serve and volley, which worked.
"I saw him so far from the baseline on the ad side. I don't know why I did the underarm serve, but it didn't work. At the end, I didn’t take the option of the underarm serve. I went for the kick serve and serve-and-volley, and it worked. So I’m really happy."