Indian Wells 2021 - Andy Murray produced a bewitching underarm serve to clinch a game in his clash with Carlos Alcaraz

Updated 11/10/2021 at 00:31 GMT

Andy Murray is known as a tennis great who never gives in. The former world number is famed for his variety but you could be forgiven for wondering if you saw a first from the 34-year-old Scot in his Indian Wells round two encounter with Carlos Alcaraz. Murray produced a devilish underarm serve to clinch a game at the start of the second set to completely fool his opponent. Read on and watch now.

Andy Murray of Great Britain returns a shot to Carlos Alcaraz of Spain during the BNP Paribas Open

Image credit: Getty Images

Andy Murray conjured up a surprise in his round two clash with Spanish starlet Carlos Alcaraz at Indian Wells as a cunning underarm serve casually won him a game on his way to an impressive comeback victory.

The 34-year-old three-time major winner has every shot in the book but has never really been known for such a tactic. In an epic career that has seen the former world number one achieve some of the sport’s greatest honours, he’s not been seen to deploy such means.

The Scot is, of course, good friends with Australian, Nick Kyrgios who will no doubt have enjoyed seeing the sneaky serve he has made famous being utilised by one of the game’s greats.

ATP Madrid

Alcaraz admits he was 'so scared' when he first played Nadal

Yesterday at 11:20

Murray was trailing 7-5 and serving at 1-1 in the second set when he completely bamboozled Alcaraz with the ace before nonchalantly strolling to his chair. It came on game point and was quite astonishing given that he had saved two break points before battling to the hold from deuce.

The crowd weren‘t the only ones stunned by what they had just witnessed. Former British number one Tim Henman was on commentary duty and admitted he was scratching his head trying to recollect a match when he had seen Murray use the underarm serve. He couldn't, but gave credit to the Brit for seeing the opportunity and executing it in style.

Speaking following a 5-7 6-3 6-2 triumph, Murray explained why he opted to use the serve.

He said: "The courts are painfully slow here. I served just three aces in a three hour match. Since Wimbledon I have been serving four or five a set. That (underarm serve) was one of the three I served today. I was thinking about using it again in the third set. He changed his return position towards the end of the first (set) and started going further back.

I decided to give it a go and see. I went for it and it worked well. Maybe I'll use it again in the future if guys are going to move that far back on courts like this.

He added: "I've done it the odd time for fun (in practice), but not like that. I just thought I’d hit it short and flat and he wasn't ready for it. It worked. Some people don’t like it but with where guys are returning from nowadays, you have to use it sometimes to try and bring them up the court. You look at a guy like (Daniil) Medvedev standing 12-14 feet behind the baseline and it's pointless hitting 140mph serves when they are coming back, so it's kind of worth while throwing it in sometimes."

Former British number one, Johanna Konta was an excited observer and was also eager to praise Murray’s quick-thinking.

She said: “To be able to hit that you need mental clarity; a clear mind to see what happens. You need to brave enough to hit it and, no, I have not been brave enough to hit one like that. It’s also one of those things that if you mess it up, you ask yourself why did I do that?"

Konta wasn't the only one whose jaw dropped, with the Twittersphere also quick to react.