Twitter expresses amusement and awe at Nick Kyrgios' underarm tweener serve at Australian Open 2022

Nick Kyrgios was at his entertaining best at the 2022 Australian Open, coasting to a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 victory over qualifier Liam Broady in his first-round match on Tuesday. The mercurial Australian delighted the crowd at the John Cain Arena with his antics, with Broady surprisingly joining in the fun as well.

As early as the second game of the opening set, Kyrgios pulled off an underarm serve. To spice things up a bit, the World No. 114 improvised by hitting the ball from between his legs.

Understandably, the incident immediately went viral on social media. The clip of the serve was shared by the official Twitter handle of the Australian Open, praising the show put on by the 26-year-old.

"Your front row seat to the @NickKyrgios show," the video was captioned on Twitter.

"Nick Kyrgios with a sensational between-the-legs serve," Oddspedia's Twitter account wrote.

"Kyrgios first set included an under arm between the legs serve. Bananas. Man, if only this guy cared more," one fan tweeted.

"The Nick Kyrgios underarm serve is evolving!" one user tweeted.

"It's show time, it's Nick Kyrgios time at the Melbourne Arena, people are smiling," another user tweeted.

"Kyrgios being Kyrgios... Ever the entertainer. 40-0 up in his first service game and then he does an underarm serve between his legs," sports journalist Michael Hincks wrote.

"Kyrgios through the legs serve. Again - a tweener serve. A through the legs serve.Year 13 for me. Never seen that one. And it was an unreturned serve! Wild stuff. Love the NK show honestly. (The fun version of Nick)," another fan wrote.

"Spinning serve through his legs. 1st service game of tournament. Unreal skill and great entertainment," sports reporter Matt Turner tweeted.

Interestingly, the Australian had hit a 220 kmph ace on the previous point. That was brought up as proof of the variety he possesses.

"Early break. Revving up the crowd. 220km/h ace. Between the legs underarm serve. And we're only two games in. Welcome back to Melbourne, Nick Kyrgios," one user wrote.

"Nick Kyrgios: Serves a 220k/ph body serve. Also Nick Kyrgios: Underarm serve tweener through legs, wins point. Never seen that before," another user wrote.

"Oh stop it! Kyrgios follows up a 220km/h ACE with a cheeky underhand serve! It's only the second game!!" one account tweeted.

The underarm serve was not the only moment of magic produced by Kyrgios in the encounter. The Australian produced another tweener early in the second set, and although Broady managed to return it, Kyrgios won the point with a passing shot.

The Australian Open shared the video, calling it "box office entertainment" for fans.

"Hey Siri, define: box office entertainment," the video was captioned on Twitter.

While the majority of tennis fans on social media found Kyrgios' antics entertaining, there was also a minority that considered his actions rude and disrespectful to the game. Tennis commentator David Law was among those who felt that his behavior crossed the line between entertainment and mockery.

"Never thought I’d say this, but feeling a bit over this from Nick Kyrgios," Law tweeted. "Maybe because the line between entertaining everyone and mocking your opponent is so fine, even if unintentional."

However, it did not seem like Kyrgios had any intention of disrespecting his opponent. The Australian genuinely looked like he was having fun on the court, which he later confirmed on Twitter.

"I hope this makes people happy," Kyrgios tweeted.

Nick Kyrgios celebrated his victory with a celebration inspired by Cristiano Ronaldo

Kyrgios imitated Cristiano Ronaldo's "SIUU" celebration after his victory

Nick Kyrgios capped off the night with the famous "siuuuu" celebration popularized by footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo employed his celebration as a way of saying the word "Si" in Spanish, (which means 'yes" in English), indicative of success after scoring a goal.

Since then the celebration has been performed by athletes across many sporting disciplines, including Indian cricketer Mohammed Siraj. Kyrgios also performed the celebration after his victory against Broady, further delighting fans at Melbourne Park, who kept yelling the word between points during several different matches.

To top it all off, Kyrgios amused the fans by taking a sip of beer offered to him by one of his fans.

Kyrgios will take on World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev in the second round on Thursday.