Witnessing a professional in any sport fail miserably, even for a brief moment, makes us mere mortals feel better about ourselves. The shanked tennis serve off the frame is one of those moments.
Romanian Monica Niculescu found more frame than string against Aussie Sam Stosur on Day 2 of the Australian Open, sending the ball over Sam Stosur’s head on the full.
She then showed she had a sense of humour by asking the umpire if she was sure the ball went out.
A hawkeye challenge would have completed the moment, but that’s just me being picky.
Stosur didn’t laugh at the point, perhaps because she knows the feeling, having done it herself at a WTA tournament at Instanbul in 2012.
Check out Stosur’s kick-serve going horribly wrong and into the stands.
Niculescu and Stosur’s beamers were good but they don’t quite match Li Na’s effort from 2013.
Li finished runner-up, despite this shank against Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarter-final.
For equality’s sake there’s been some shocking men’s serves over the years too, including the great John McEnroe at the start of this hilarious blooper reel.
On the flip side there’s been a few clangers when it comes to returning serves.
Andy Roddick he should be used to returning good servers, but he found out the hard way what happens when you fail to read a fast serve from Mark Philippoussis.
So Roarers, do you enjoy athletes making mistakes? What are you favourite epic fails in the world of sport?
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