Sports
A bizarre tennis serve technique, halfway between overarm and underarm, strikes again
The underarm serve and its legitimacy continues to be a divisive issue in tennis, but on Tuesday in French Open qualifying, tennis fans were again treated to its even stranger cousin.
Step forward Zsombor Piros, the world No. 175 from Hungary, who once more used his bizarre serving tactic to outfox an opponent. First seen by the wider tennis public in a Davis Cup tie against Austria in September, Piros used the serve at an arguably bigger moment, down set point in the first set of his first-round qualifying match against Portugal’s Henrique Rocha.
The serve sees Piros barely throw the ball into the air, before patting it over the net to his unsuspecting opponent. As against Lukas Neumayer in that Davis Cup tie, Rocha was completely outfoxed, and the serve bounced twice for an ace.
Piros appeared perilously close to committing a foot fault, which happens when a player touches the baseline or jumps into the court before striking the ball, but it was not called against him.
Le service Piros sur balle de set.
Le fait que ce soit un ace.
Le fait que Piros s’excuse de honte après avoir fait ça.
C’est déjà la première pépite de RG
Image : France TV ( me strikez pas les bros ) pic.twitter.com/nM434aYpaD
— Quentin « Quento » Mengual (@QuentinMengual) May 19, 2026
Aesthetically, it looks like an amalgamation of every beginner tennis player hitting a serve. But despite being an eyesore technically, it’s so unorthodox and hard to spot coming from the toss (more so than an underarm serve) that it’s a difficult thing to counter. On this occasion, Piros held out his racket in apology to Rocha, seemingly acknowledging the strangeness of what he was doing — even if it’s perfectly legal.
After saving the first set point with the unusual serve, Piros saved the second and went on to hold for 5-4, but Rocha served out the set and ultimately went on to win the match 6-4, 7-6(4).
Piros will have to decide whether to continue using the serve, which his opponents may begin to expect. There was no dissent from the crowd, which can sometimes react with hostility to an underarm serve. At the Barcelona Open last month, Nuno Borges was booed and given a frosty handshake after producing an underarm serve ace up match point against Tomás Martín Etcheverry.
Both serves are totally legitimate tactics though, and work particularly well on clay courts where players stand even further back than normal to return.
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Carabao Cup: Burnley edge win on penalties, West Ham, Norwich & Watford through | Football News
Kyle Walker struck the winning penalty as Burnley edged out Notts County 4-3 in a shoot-out to reach the Carabao Cup second round after a 1-1 draw at Turf Moor.
Newly-promoted County, League Two play-off final winners over Salford in May, led through Callum Roberts at half-time before Zian Flemming equalised early in the second period for the Clarets.
Walker struck the winning penalty after Burnley goalkeeper Max Weiss had saved efforts from Notts pair Emile Acquah and Jacob Bedeau in the shoot-out.
West Ham came from behind to beat Portsmouth 3-1 at the London Stadium in their first match following relegation from the Premier League.
The Hammers fell behind to Adrian Segecic’s first-half opener, but turned it round before the break with Taty Castellanos and Jarrod Bowen on target, before the former notched his second in the second half.
Substitute Jamal Lowe struck the only goal as Sheffield Wednesday beat 10-man Bolton 1-0 at Hillsborough.
Lowe scored midway through the second half after Bolton’s Xavier Simons was sent off for punching Owls’ on-loan Leeds striker Harry Gray in retaliation having been pulled back.
Millwall goalkeeper Lukas Jensen saved all four of QPR’s penalties as the Lions won 2-0 in a shoot-out at Loftus Road after the game ended 1-1 after 90 minutes.
Luke Cundle had given Millwall a second-half lead after a goalkeeper error before the Hoops hit back through a late own goal from Mark Sykes.
Norwich debutant Andre Brooks was on target as the Canaries cruised to a 4-1 win against MK Dons at Carrow Road.
Cardiff substitute Jack Moylan also scored on his debut, firing the winner as the Bluebirds won 3-2 against Swindon, for whom James Debayo was sent off for two yellow cards in the final six minutes.
August Priske’s first-half finish sealed Birmingham a 1-0 win at Swansea and Marc Bola’s stunning long-range strike deep in added time clinched Watford victory over Crawley by the same score.
Late goals from substitutes Andri Gudjohnsen and Jayden Fevrier secured Blackburn a 2-1 win at Burton.
Newly-promoted Lincoln picked up where they left off last season, winning 2-1 at Derby thanks to first-half goals from Ben House and Dom Jefferies before Sammie Szmodics pulled one back for the Rams.
Ollie Norburn’s own goal and Robert Bozenik’s late effort secured Stoke a 2-0 win against Oldham at the bet365 Stadium and Bradford pair Will Swan and Aden Baldwin earned their side a 2-0 home win against Rochdale.
Fleetwood captain Ched Evans’ first-half effort sealed his side a 1-0 home win against Chesterfield and Cambridge hit back to beat Barnet 2-1 through second-half goals from Ben Knight and Isaac Heath.
AFC Wimbledon, Barnsley and Reading progressed after winning on penalties against Newport, Wigan and Bromley respectively, while Preston, Shrewsbury and Doncaster came through respective shoot-outs against Huddersfield, Salford and Stockport.
Luca Moore’s late goal sealed Crewe a 2-1 victory against Accrington at Gresty Road and late goals from Demetri Mitchell and Idris El Mizouni secured Leyton Orient a 2-0 home win against Oxford.
Peterborough, Luton and Blackpool all won on the road, at Bristol Rovers, Gillingham and Grimsby respectively, and Caleb Okoli’s header secured Leicester a 1-0 home win against Northampton.
In the evening kick-offs, there was a 2-0 victory for Southampton as Cyle Larin and Romeo Akachukwu scored their goals at Colchester.
While West Brom won 4-1 at Rotherham and Charlton secured a 3-1 victory at Cheltenham.
When is the second round draw?
The draw for the second round of the 2026/27 Carabao Cup will be made live on Sky Sports Football on Monday August 10, during the build-up to the tie between Plymouth and Exeter.
The draw will feature all first-round winners, as well as the 11 Premier League clubs not participating in European competition.
All Saturday’s results
- Cambridge 2-1 Barnet
- QPR 1-1 Millwall (0-2 pens)
- AFC Wimbledon 1-1 Newport (5-4 pens)
- Barnsley 1-1 Wigan (6-5 pens)
- Bradford 2-0 Rochdale
- Bristol Rovers 0-1 Peterborough
- Bromley 1-1 Reading (4-5 pens)
- Burnley 1-1 Notts County (4-3 pens)
- Burton 1-2 Blackburn
- Cardiff 3-2 Swindon
- Crewe 2-1 Accrington
- Derby 1-2 Lincoln
- Fleetwood 1-0 Chesterfield
- Gillingham 1-3 Blackpool
- Leicester 1-0 Northampton
- Leyton Orient 2-0 Oxford
- Norwich 4-1 MK Dons
- Preston 1-1 Huddersfield (4-3 pens)
- Salford 1-1 Shrewsbury (3-4 pens)
- Sheff Wed 1-0 Bolton
- Stockport 1-1 Doncaster (4-5 pens)
- Stoke 2-0 Oldham
- Swansea 0-1 Birmingham
- Watford 1-0 Crawley
- West Ham 3-1 Portsmouth
- Cheltenham 1-3 Charlton
- Colchester 0-2 Southampton
- Rotherham 1-4 West Brom
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'Good signs' for Man Utd as Mbeumo scores in encouraging draw with PSG

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