#7 Second Serves

2012 Wimbledon Rd16: Roger Federer def. Xavier Malisse 7-6 (1), 6-1, 4-6, 6-3

On the surface, Roger Federer had another scare on Wimbledon’s center court with a four-set victory over Xavier Malisse to advance to the quarters. But while the baseline rallies and approach shots looked fairly even, Federer had a massive advantage in one specific area that was always going to get him over the line – total dominance with second serves.

When looking at an IBM stat sheet, it’s best to go straight to second serve points won and lost for both players to get the inside view of what was really going on.

This is the “smart stat” and Federer typically wins this battle hands down.