Alexander Bublik is known for hitting the occasional underarm serve during his career, but he believes the shot is ‘overrated’ with too much attention on it.
The world No.10 isn’t the most likely of players to criticise the method when you look at his track record. He once hit six underarm serves in one game against Frances Tiafoe at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships. More recently, at the 2025 Vienna Open, he caught world No.1 Jannik Sinner off guard by producing an ace using the method.
Conducting his pre-tournament press conference at the French Open on Sunday, Bublik was quizzed about underarm serving. Giving his opinion on the shot, the Kazakh believes it is used purely for entertainment.
“I think that underarm serve gets too much attention because I don’t think it’s something special or something tough to do,” he said.
“For me, it’s more when I want. Whenever I feel like there is a need for entertainment, there is a need to relax a bit, or there is a need of laughing with your opponent, like giving him the point maybe and whatever.”
Underarm serving has also been used on the Tour by the likes of Daniil Medvedev, Courentin Moutet and Nick Kyrgios. It is particularly effective against players who stand deep behind the baseline when returning. Even though players might get a mixed response from the crowd when playing this shot, it is legal on the Tour.
As for its place within the sport, Bublik has a strong view.
“There is no tactic behind that. They have no idea about tennis if they see it as a tactical weapon,” he said.
“I think it’s an entertainment tool. I don’t understand why people are making such a big fuss about such a shot, which everyone can do and is definitely not in favour of the one who’s doing it in terms of winning points.
“I think it’s just a fun thing to do sometimes, there’s nothing wrong or nothing good.
“It’s just too much attention to it, even though I have been doing it since 2019/2020.”
Bublik is the ninth seed at this year’s French Open and will play Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round. Last season, he reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros before losing to Sinner.
