Watch as tennis star pokes fun at himself after hitting one of the worst serves ever ahead of Wimbledon

A WIMBLEDON hopeful will be desperate to find his serving game soon – after his embarrassing howler was one of the worst of all time.

Botic van de Zandschulp, 26, took to Twitter to poke fun at himself for his woeful effort that made him look more like a club player – rather than the 26th best in the world.

The Dutch star is ranked 26th in the world and clearly saw the funny side

The Dutch No1 competed at the grass-court tournament at Queen’s last week.

And on his route to the semi-final, where he lost to eventual champion Matteo Berrettini, he produced his comical attempt at a second serve.

After throwing the ball up as usual, he mistimed the connection.

So rather than hitting it with his strings, instead he pinged it off the top of the frame of his racket.

That sent the ball absolutely flying over the baseline and into the stands behind his opponent.

To make matters worse for the former US Open quarter-finalist, that gifted a break of service.

The commentator said: “Oh my goodness,” before a huge cheer went up from the crowd, presumably as a spectator took the catch.

He added: “Well you don’t see that too often from a professional tennis player – and what a time for it to happen, as well, on break point.”

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Van de Zandschulp, though, saw the funny side.

He tweeted: “Not sure which one is worse. @FTiafoe or mine,” followed by a laughing emoji.

The serve he was referencing was Frances Tiafoe’s hilarious effort from Eastbourne on Monday.

The American seventh seed botched his second serve at a crucial point early in the third set against Alexander Bublik, before going on to lose 6-0 in the decider.

Despite serving on the deuce side, the right-hand side of the court, to aim diagonally, he somehow managed to get his shot so badly wrong that it went in the complete opposite direction.

The ball bounced to the right of the outside tram lines and into the front row of the crowd, who were left in stunned silence.

And the two dodgy servers have less than a week to cut out any similar bloopers before Wimbledon gets underway.

Van de Zandschulp is seeded 22nd while Tiafoe is the No24 seed at the All England Club.

Despite slipping to No3 in the rankings, Novak Djokovic is the top seed and Rafa Nadal second with Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev absent.

On the women’s side, Emma Raducanu is the tenth seed and will be hoping to go even better than her fourth-round run from 2021.

Frances Tiafoe’s effort went in the wrong direction altogether

The American will be hoping there are no repeats on the famous Wimbledon lawns