G’day from Melbourne,
Points played at the net are on the rise again at Melbourne Park this year. 📈
Hip, hip, hooray!!! 🥳
As you may well know, I am always championing players venturing to the net to win points for a variety of reasons. Taking time away, pressuring with court position, and taking the opponent out of their comfort zone are just a few. The main one is the cold, hard facts of the win percentages!
Comparing round one for the men and women at the 2024 Australian Open to the previous three years uncovers an uptick in points played at net. That’s healthy for our sport and smart for the players coming forward to finish at the front of the court.
Improve Your Technique & Win Percentages At The Net
Webinar 6: Net Strategy & Patterns
Webinar 21: Serve & Volley / Return & Volley
Webinar 30: Volley & Overhead Technique
Strategy Course: Short Ball Hunter
For the men, there were 434 more net points in round one of 2024 versus 2021, which represents a sizeable 14% increase. What’s fascinating is that there were only two players (Dino Prizmic & Aleksandar Vukic) who failed to reach at least 50% points won at net out of the entire men’s draw in the opening round. The rule of thumb is if you can win north of 50% doing absolutely anything on the tennis court, then do more of it!
Below are peak performers who ventured forward to the net 30+ times and won north of 70% of their points in round one.
Net Win Percentages & Totals
- Alexander Zverev = won 85% (35/39)
- Jordan Thompson = won 86% (31/36)
- Sebastian Ofner = won 84% (26/31)
- Quentin Halys = won 83% (33/40)
- Sumit Nagal = won 81% (26/32)
- Dominic Thiem = won 77% (27/35)
- Lloyd Harris = won 76% (25/33)
- Holger Rune = won 74% (26/35)
- Borna Coric = won 74% 26/35)
- Jesper de Jong = won 73% (22/30)
- Frances Tiafoe = won 73% (27/37)
- Alexandre Muller = won 73% (24/33)
- Carlos Alcaraz = won 72% (23/32)
- Karen Khachanov = won 72% (28/39)
- Benjamin Bonzi = won 71% (41/58)
WOMEN’S DRAW
There were also more points played at the net for the women in round one this year as well compared to the last three years.
Below are women who ventured forward to the net 15+ times and won north of 70% of their points in round one.
- Leyla Fernandez = won 82% (14/17)
- Magdalena Frech = won 80% (20/25)
- Linda Noskova = won 80% (12/15)
- Lesona Tsurenko = won 79% (15/19)
- Storm Hunter = won 79% (15/19)
- Beatriz Haddad Maia = won 75% (18/24)
- Alja Tomljanovic = won 75% (15/20)
- Viktorija Golubic = won 75% (12/16)
- Martina Trevisan = won 74% 26/35)
What’s fascinating is the comparison between points won at net and points won behind 1st serves in the opening round in the women’s draw.
- Net Points Won = 65%
- 1st Serve Points Won = 64%
This is pretty amazing, as we automatically know that making your first serve is going to give you a strong win percentage. But we seem to think that the net is far from an ideal place to play. Nothing could be further than the truth, with net points won slightly outperforming first serve points won.
SUMMARY
All 256 players in the men’s and women’s draw at the 2024 Australian Open are trying to find a slight edge somewhere (anywhere!) on the court to give themselves the slightest advantage over their opponent. The net seems to be coming back in favor, and players who venture forward are being rewarded.
The net works at all levels of our sport, from Centre Court in Melbourne to club courts all over the world. Follow the lead from Down Under and recommit to going to the net to finish points.
It’s a smart thing to do.