Serve badly in the game (7)
I believe the answer is:
netball
This might be a double definition.
'serve badly' is the first definition.
The answer and definition can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'game' is the second definition.
(netball is a sport)
'in the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for netball that I've seen before include "Sport whose players wear bibs" , "activity no longer associated solely with girls" , "Team game/sport" , "Game for women or girls" , "Team game, played mainly by women" .)