The serve in tennis is one of the most important shots and often dictates the tempo of a particular game.
Having a fast serve is an extremely useful weapon and at Wimbledon earlier this month, Giovanni Mpetshi-Perricard produced some outrageously quick serves.
As the Frenchman proved, however, the serve isn’t the only component that makes a good tennis player, with Taylor Fritz beating him in five sets.
Over the years, some serves have looked a little less easy on the eye than some of the ones straight out of the textbook, with Andy Roddick in the modern era boasting a very unique service motion.
Perhaps nobody in tennis has seen a serve quite like that of German performer Karsten Braasch, who had an extremely unorthodox service motion.
Photo credit should read OLIVER HARDT/AFP via Getty ImagesWho is Karsten Braasch?
The German player was a bit of a journeyman tennis player and never made it any higher than number 38 in the world rankings.
Braasch never made the second week of a Grand Slam with a third-round run at the Australian Open in 1997 and a foray to the same stage of the US Open in 1993, the best he managed.
He lost at the first hurdle of the French Open on three occasions and did manage to make round two at Wimbledon on two occasions in 1992 and 1994.
It was Braasch’s serve that saw him cop the most attention with his unorthodox style proving extremely intriguing for any fans who paid to watch him play tennis.
Braasch might not have really caught fire at the Grand Slam tournaments, but he did have his moment in the sun at another event that he took part in during his career.
Karsten Braasch beat Venus and Serena Williams back-to-back
Venus and Serena were so good and generational talents that the talk often turned to whether or not they could compete with the men.
At the 1998 Australian Open, Braasch took part in a Battle of the Sexes exhibition with the German player ranked at 203 in the world rankings.
Braasch overcame both sisters in comprehensive style, thrashing Serena 6-1 and beating Venus 6-2, much to the surprise of the punters who were watching.
Braasch was 30 at the time, with the Williams sisters in their teens and both still striving for consistency on the main tour.
The German player won’t come into any conversations when it comes to the greatest tennis players in history but his unorthodox serve had people talking and so too did his famous win over the Williams sisters.