Nick Kyrgios, Sara Errani, and the Underarm Serve

Nick Kyrgios made waves in tennis world weeks ago when he started hitting underarm serves as a way to change up the pace of the match and keep his opponents from standing too far behind the baseline. However, given that Kyrgios has one of the best serves in men's tennis, the underarm serve was seen as more of a novelty act than anything worth paying serious attention to. And while players, like Alejandro Davidovich Fokina started to also occasionally serve underarmed, it seemed more for the shock factor to the opponent than a serious, long-term strategy.

However, what happens when the shock factor turns into a method of fending off retirement and keeping a player's tennis dreams alive? That is what Sara Errani is currently grappling with. As Diego Barbiani states in this tweet, in last night's match in Bogota, Errani served underarm for most of the match, especially in the second set. And not only that, but Errani only lost three games in the match. And as, Barbiani states, she only hit four double faults!

Now, you might be thinking, why is it such a big deal that she only hit four double faults? Well, in her previous match, she hit 18 double faults. To put that in perspective, 18 double faults is around 4.5 games in a match. While that is not a perfect comparison to make, given deuce games, it is still startling to see Errani serving so poorly. Sara's serve was always the weak part of her game, but she never used to serve like this. The serve is the one part of a player's game that the player has full control over, and is considered by many to be the most important shot in tennis, so to see Errani struggling to this extent is shocking.

But, it seems like switching to the underarm serve, at least in that one match, helped Errani to cut down on her serving woes and allow her to showcase her high-quality clay-court baseline game. This is in contrast to Errani often ending the point before it has really even started, not with an ace, but with a double fault. When one watches Errani, it is clear that her groundstroke prowess, while not on the level she was at when she made the final of the French Open in 2012, is still at a very high level. The problem is, however, when your serve is under pressure so often, by yourself as often as your opponent, how are you able to win consistently?

I don't see this underarm serve to be a long-term strategy for Errani. The WTA Bogota is definitely not the strongest of the WTA tournaments, and having success with the underarm serve against Bibiane Schoofs, currently No. 149 in the live rankings, doesn't mean that Errani is all of a sudden going to go toe-to-toe, for example, with Angelique Kerber, like she has in the past (head to head 2-2). Errani will most likely have to work out how to manage the regular service motion if she is going to advance in tournaments with stronger fields.

It is so interesting how this whole situation has panned out. Although Michael Chang famously used the underarm serve in his match against Ivan Lendl at the French Open, Nick Kyrgios revived it with his occasional underarm serves recently, and because it's Nick Kyrgios, this sparked seemingly endless debates about the underarm serve, with Kyrgios certainly enjoying the even brighter spotlight that serving underarm has brought him.

Yet, we also have a player, Sara Errani, who is using the underarm serve as a way to keep her dream of playing in French Open qualifying alive. It's amazing how far Errani has fallen, going from her peak, battling Maria Sharapova for the French Open, to her doping ban, to now utilizing the underarm serve as a way to keep her tennis career, and chances to even get into French Open qualifying, afloat.

Thus, proving that the underarm serve can be used for very different reasons.

Sara Errani is Ready for Main Draw of French Open

It almost seemed surreal to see Sara Errani in the French Open qualifying draw. Just five years, she was one match from winning the French Open before Maria Sharapova beat her 6-3, 6-2. She had beaten French Open champion Ana Ivanovic in the Third Round, two-time grand slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the Round of 16, future two-time grand slam champion Angelique Kerber in the Quarterfinals, and US Open champion Sam Stosur in the Semifinals. That was a very impressive run. In addition, Sara has won three Australian Opens, a French Open, and Wimbledon with former doubles partner Roberta Vinci.

At Roland Garros, Errani backed up this success with a Semifinals showing in the 2013 French Open, and then reaching the Quarterfinals at the 2014 and 2015 French Open. These is some serious success at one major, and after reaching the Quarterfinals as recently as two years, it is definitely a shock to see Errani in the qualifying draw this year.

Errani's slide down the rankings came soon after the biggest title of her career, winning a Premier event in Dubai. After her title in Dubai, she lost four of her next six matches, made the semis of Charleston, and then proceeded to lose every match for the rest of the clay court season up to the French Open, including a shocking First Round loss to Tsetvana Pironkova at Roland Garros.

The grass court season was not successful for Errani, going 1-2, and she had middling results for the rest of the season, which included First Round losses in four of her final five tournaments of 2016, including at the US Open. 2017 has not been great to Sara either, as she lost in her first match of the season at Brisbane, had to withdraw from the Second Round of the Australian Open before her match against Ekaterina Makarova, and proceeded to lose in the Second Round of her next three tournaments, even on the clay of Charleston. Not great results from Errani, and given her horrendous form to end 2016, it seemed as if she would be playing in qualifying of the French Open.

Errani showed glimpses through some of the clay court season that she could eventually gain back her form. She made the Quarterfinals of Bogota, and later in the clay court season, made the Semifinals of Rabat. But, there were also moments this clay court season where you wondered if Errani would never be close to the player she was in the past. Errani lost in the Second Round of Istanbul to Elise Mertens, the First Round of qualifying in Madrid to Pauline Parmentier, and the First Round of Rome to Alize Cornet (which she got a wildcard in order to get into the main draw without playing qualifying).

So, when the qualifying draw came out, while it seemed like Errani would be able to get through the draw without much trouble, you could never be certain given her erratic form. However, Sara's form in qualifying has been spectacular. In her First Round match in the qualifying draw, Errani played a French wildcard, Sara Cakarevic. And Errani played up to her abilities and competed like the former Roland Garros Finalist that she is, destroying Cakarevic 6-1, 6-0. It was very clear at that point that Errani would be on her game and would be nearly impossible to beat in qualifying.

Sara continued her good form in the Second Round of qualifying when she played Veronika Kudermetova. Errani destroyed Kudermetova, as well, winning 6-1, 6-2. This means that, after her first two qualifying matches, Errani only lost four games. Then, in the Final Qualifying Round, Sara beat Nicole Gibbs 6-3, 6-0. This gave Errani to 6-0 sets in qualifying to along with two 6-1 sets. No opponent got more than three games in a set, or in a match, against Errani during French Open qualifying.

I really think that winning so easily during French Open qualifying will be a turning point in the year for Errani. Watching Errani play for much of last year and this year so far, much of the problem with Errani's game is that she has lost a tremendous amount of confidence. She isn't hitting her groundstrokes with the authority that she once did, and this affects both the depth on her groundstrokes, and has also damaged her fighting spirit. The Errani that I saw, for instance, lose to Christina McHale in Brisbane and Johanna Larsson in Bogota was not the Errani that I had watched a couple years ago. She had lost both her fighting spirit and the depth on her groundstrokes, and I have a feeling it has been largely a confidence issue for Sara.

I truly believe that not just winning in qualifying, but dominating in every match she played, will give Errani a lot of confidence. Just a few weeks ago, Sara was the one losing 6-0 in a set, in the semis of Rabat, which could have caused her to lose some of the confidence she had gained over the course of the week. But to come to a place where she has won the doubles title and made the singles Final, and to play so well over the course of three matches, it signals good things in Errani's future in Paris.

So, now Sara moves onto the main draw. She will open up against Misaki Doi, who was having a good week in Nuremberg, before retiring in the Semifinals against Kiki Bertens. Overall, that is a pretty good draw for Errani, and I expect her to come through that match and set up a tough Second Round match against, most likely, Kristina Mladenovic, who has had a great year so far.

But, no matter the results in the main draw of the French Open, I can't help but to think that Errani is on the right track in turning her year around. I believe Sara will gain a lot of confidence from the qualifying event in Paris, and this will be crucial to her success for the rest of the season, and even in a broader sense, for the rest of her career. Based on her results in qualifying, Sara Errani is ready for the main draw of the French Open.

In Appreciation of Sara Errani

Sara Errani is a very polarizing player on the WTA Tour, to say the least.  The about her, win or lose, on places such as Tennis Forum and Twitter are vile and make her out to be a talentless bum.  However, what she has achieved in career has been outstanding and she is and exemplifies how I expect a professional tennis player to act.  So, after the biggest title of her career in Dubai a couple weeks back, and as she gets ready to begin the WTA event in Monterrey today, just days after competing in the Doha doubles Final, I take a look at Sara Errani's illustrious career and retort a lot of the complaints I hear about her game.

Sara, currently the number 15 in the world from Bologna, Italy, has had a career that the vast majority of the WTA would envy.  Ranked as high as number 5 in the world during the 2013 season, Errani has constantly placed her in the upper-echelon of the women's game.  And she has not done this by occasionally having a big run in a larger tournament, but rather, more impressively in my opinion, consistently fighting for points, week-in and week-out.

This is evidenced by Errani's 19 WTA singles finals and nine victories.  And these victories are spread out over the years too, proving that Sara didn't just "peak" for a year or two and then disappear into the shadows.  While four of her titles did come in 2012, Errani has also won as early in her career as 2008 and as "late" (considering she is 28) in her career as Dubai last month (which was also her first WTA Premier Title).  Sustainability towards of the top of the women's game is Errani's forte, despite almost always facing players with much more powerful games than she has.

However,  at least in my opinion, Errani's greatest singles accomplishment was a tournament in which she lost: the 2012 French Open.  Sara Errani made the singles Final of this tournament, coming within one match of a major title.  And while she ultimately lost to Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-2, the way she reached the Final was very impressive.

In the First Round, Errani could have easily given in to Casey Dellacqua's powerful lefty game, but after losing the first set, fought back to win the match in three sets.  And in the Third Round, facing former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, Sara was steamrolled in the first set 6-1.  However, Errani's fighting spirit willed her through this match, winning a tight second set and ultimately pulling out the match in the three sets.  I believe this match to be a pivotal one in Sara's career, because it ultimately proved she was a contender and not just another journeywoman going through the motions in her career, proving that her game, and fierceness, would take her above much of the competition.

Errani went on to soundly defeat two-time major champion (and also a French Open winner) Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets, including a 6-0 first set before going on to beat Angelique Kerber in straight sets in the Quarterfinals (also now a major winner).  Then, in the Semifinals, Errani withstood a strong push in the second set (6-1) by defending US Open champion, winning that match in three sets too before her loss to Sharapova in the Final.  But, when you look at Errani's run to the Final of that French Open, it looks even better in hindsight than at the time, with Kerber also winning a major.  In total, of the six matches she played to reach the Final, Sara took on four major champions and beat them all (before eventually losing to Sharapova).  That's pretty darn impressive.

I don't want to limit Errani's accomplishments to only singles, however, as her doubles feats might even top what she's done in singles.  On the doubles court, Sara has 25 titles and has been in a doubles final 39 times!  This includes a 5-3 record in grand slam doubles finals with her former doubles partner Roberta Vinci!  In fact, Errani has the "grand slam" in doubles, meaning that she has won all four major titles at least once, with a victory in Melbourne occurring twice!  Errani has won at least one title in doubles every year, starting in 2008, through 2015.  So, when we judge Errani's career, it would be foolish to only look at her singles game when making judgment, as her doubles career has been more than impressive.

So, what do the critics have to go on, knowing all that Sara has accomplished.  Let's break it down.  One major critique against her is that her serve is so weak, so somehow this shows how weak the WTA Tour is that opponents can't be destroying Errani every match, given her serve.  And to that, I would respond with this: Yes, there are many club-level players who can serve harder than Errani, but doesn't that just show good Errani is defensively and on returning serve, rather than demonstrating a "weak era" or somehow a knock on Errani?

It's amazing watching Sara somehow get back neutral when an opponent whacks what seems to be a great shot on Errani's serve.  And when Errani is broken, I like to say that a break of serve in an Errani match is a like a hold against anyone else because the breaks just occur so often.  In just Sara's final three matches in Dubai, she broke her opponents' serve a total of 18 times in 7 sets!  That is an insane number of breaks.  In fact, against Madison Brengle in the Quarterfinals, she broke serve 10 times in the match!  If Errani is able to stay near the top of the WTA with her serve, it says more about the other aspects of her game than her serve itself.

Another reason why Sara is picked on by critics is because they somehow don't like her attitude, the same attitude that I see as a major reason why Errani has had so much success of her career.  Like I just said, Errani has a very poor serve, both on her first serve and her second serve.  At five-foot five-inches, it is also very hard for her to generate much power on her groundstrokes either.  So, Sara has to make up for this deficit in other ways.  One way is through her actual play, using lots of top spin, her superb defensive abilities, net play, and ability to use the entire court to her advantage.  However, these tactics would be greatly compromised if it weren't for her gritty attitude.  Sara needs to be so tough on court in order to fully engage herself to play the game that got her near the top of the women's game.

You see, other players have the  physical abilities to use their serve to get through a service game or blast a few groundstrokes when needed to get out of trouble.  Errani, however, doesn't have these luxurious and needs to play with that chip on her shoulder, that realization that the opponent might be physically talented than her, but that she is mentally tougher, in order to gut through the matches.  Because, if she played with this "all smiles", "pretty girl" attitude that it seems as if many of her detractors want to see from WTA players, there's no way she would pull out matches like in the Quarterfinals of Dubai, where she was down 4-1 and a double break in the third set.  So, to suggest that someone doesn't like Sara's on-court demeanor is ridiculous, as it is a major reason why she has been so successful over the years.

And yet another criticism of Sara is that her game is only applicable to clay, that she is a "one-surface wonder".  Now, while she is certainly not great on grass, she was golden-setted by Shvedova at Wimbledon after all in 2013 , Errani did reach the Third Round of Wimbledon in both 2010 and 2012.  For someone who can "only play on clay" that's pretty good results at a grass court event and demonstrate that, despite Errani not being at the peak of her game on grass, she can still tough out matches on her worst surface.

Now, that might not convince the detractors, but Errani's results on hard courts might.  For starters, Sara has won two WTA singles tournaments on hard court, including recently winning her only WTA Premier-level victory in Dubai.  In total, Sara has made the Final of seven singles tournaments on hard courts.  As mentioned earlier, Errani has won three doubles majors on hard courts, and ten hard court doubles tournaments in all (and has 17 doubles finals in total on hard courts).  And if that isn't enough, Errani is 3-1 in grass court doubles finals.

I have yet to even mention Errani's superb performances in majors on hard courts.  In Melbourne, Sara made the 2012 Quarterfinals and hung tough with Petra Kvitova in the Quarterfinals.  And in New York, Errani made the Semifinals of the 2012 tournament, losing to the 2012 champion, Serena Williams, in the semis.  Given all of her credentials off of hard, which I've just listed, I don't know how anyone could possibly conceive the argument that she is only good on clay courts.  Is clay her best surface?  Yes.  But, is her game only effective on clay?  Absolutely not.  Errani has proven many, many times, that she can adapt her game to hard courts and even win some on grass.

And yet, with all of this said, detractors will still take swipes at the Errani.  They moaned and groaned that Errani didn't have to play a tough opponent during her title run in Dubai, somehow "forgetting" that the reason why she didn't have to play higher ranked opponents is not because they weren't in the draw, the field was very strong, but rather, because they lost early, something totally out of Errani's control.

I think it's time everyone, whether they like her style of play or not, respect and appreciate Sara Errani for what she has accomplished during her time playing on the WTA Tour.

Sara Errani Continues Awesome Year

Wow, Sara Errani has had a great 2012.  She has played great defensive tennis, mustering all of her strength to truly challenge some of the great players on tour.  From making the Semifinals at one major to the Finals at another Errani has been sensational.  At the Pan Pacific Open, she is, once again, showing us why she is becoming one of the best players on tour.

At the Australian Open, Sara Errani showed that she would be a factor during the tour for the years to come.  Not only did she make it to the Quarterfinals, but she beat some of the top players on tour.  For instance, she beat Nadia Petrova and Xie Zheng on her run.  Both of those players have made semifinal appearances in their careers, so for Errani, who really had not done much in her career, this was a monumental tournament for her.  But, it would not top the French Open for Errani.

Sara Errani had the best major appearance of her career.  This was Errani's first major final.  Errani, with her defensive style suits clay perfectly, so it was no surprise that she made the Finals of this clay-court major.  On her way, she beat some of the top ranked players in the world.  She beat Ana Ivonovic, Angelique Kerber, and Samantha Stosur, just to name a few, on her title pursuit.  Even though she lost to Maria Sharapova in the Finals, her just making it there showed that her run at the Australian Open was no fluke.

Sara Errani later went to Wimbledon and the Olympics, both of these tournaments were on her weak surface, grass.  And although Errani did not perform perfectly, she was not a total disgrace either.  She did make it to the Third Round of Wimbledon, there is no shame in that.  And she also lost to Venus Williams in the First Round of the Olympics.  And let me tell you something, there is nothing to hang her head about losing to Venus Williams on grass.  Errani, however, looked to redeem herself at the US Open.

Sara Errani played like a superstar at the US Open.  She made it to the Semifinals, beating a, now, skyrocketing Angelique Kerber, only losing one set on her way to the semifinal round.  In the Semifinals, she met a hot Serena Williams, who beat Errani in two, quick sets.  This tournament did show, however, that Errani was not going to fade away after her French Open success.  That ERrani was hungry for more.

At the Toray Pan Pacific Ocean, Sara Errani really fought as we have expected her to do.  She beat Marion Bartoli, another really tough fighter, as she went on to the Quarterfinals.  Although she lost in three sets to yet another top player, Nadia Petrova, Sara Errani is once again proving she is definitely going to be a player in next year's majors.

And it will be exciting to see just how far she can go.