Wednesday, 23 August 2017 / Published in Strategy Courses

2nd Serves: Asset Or Liability?

When Do 2nd Serves Become An Asset?

In the past THIRTY YEARS, only 160 players on the ATP World Tour have forged a WINNING percentage (above 50%) behind their second serve. That’s only about five players each year getting added to this reputable list. Just five.

The ceiling on this list stops short of 60%. Here’s the best of the best…

So now we know the ceiling on the pro tour. What about the rest of us? How good is the performance of our 2nd serves?

That’s the secret sauce of GAMEPLAN, the Player Development Pathway course on this website. I want to give you a sneak peek as to what’s under the hood of GAMEPLAN. Second serve points won provides a perfect snapshot!

Question for you.

At what level do 2nd serves move from being a liability to an asset – for both male and female players?

In other words. at what level does the average win percentage migrate above 50%?

GAMEPLAN focuses on 10 levels along the Player Development pathway, starting with Under 12, and finishing with the Top 10 in the world.

NOW FOR THE ANSWER!

Let’s start with male players first, and uncover exactly where the line in the sand is when 2nd second serves finally become an asset – winning more than 50% of points.

MALE PLAYERS

Level: MALE	Win Percentage	Is It An Asset?
U12	43%	NO
U14	44%	NO
U16	46%	NO
U18	47%	NO
College: Levels 5&6	47%	NO
College: Levels 3&4	48%	NO
College: Levels 1&2	49%	NO
Challenger	50%	EVEN
Top 100	52%	YES
Top 10	53%	YES

It’s not until tennis becomes your full-time job and you begin to excel at it that 2nd serves move from the liability to the asset column.

2020 Australian Open Men = 50.8% (5154/10,147)

An important element to consider here is the practice court. Think for a moment how juniors around the world have their time organized in their practice sessions.

Keep it simple – how much time is specifically spent developing forehands and backhands, and how much time is specifically dedicated to developing second serves? It feels like a 99% to 1% ratio! Second serves are so important in a match but are barely an afterthought on the practice court.

What can you focus on with second serves?

Well, firstly there is the motion of the serve. The toss is also a key component. Then there is mastering the variety of spins, and the depth in the service box.

You can work on hitting targets and you can definitely work on improving with the defensive Serve +1 groundstroke that you are probably going to get smacked right back at you by the returner. A lot of 2nd serve points are lost right there. The second serve goes in, but the server is crunched for time on their very next shot and dumps a forehand or backhand straight in the net because they can’t get their hands and feet correctly organized quickly enough.

Imagine, for just a moment, if ALL of those elements of the 2nd serve were consistently worked on. A little bit every. single. day.

Would we still have losing percentages all through the junior and collegiate levels? I doubt it!

Now let’s take a lot at the female players. When do second serves become an asset?

FEMALE PLAYERS

Level: FEMALE	Win Percentage	Is It An Asset?
U12	41%	NO
U14	41%	NO
U16	43%	NO
U18	43%	NO
College: Levels 5&6	42%	NO
College: Levels 3&4	43%	NO
College: Levels 1&2	43%	NO
Challenger	46%	NO
Top 100	47%	NO
Top 10	47%	NO

There you have it. They never do. The averages at all levels of our sport show us that the second serve constantly remains a liability.

Here are three examples…

2015 Wimbledon Final: Serena Williams def. Garbine Muguruza 6-4, 6-4

Combined 2nd Serve Performance for both ladies: 17/49 = 35%

2014 Wimbledon Final: Petra Kvitova def. Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-0

Combined 2nd Serve Performance for both ladies: 13/35 = 37%

2017 Australian Open Tournament Total= 46% (3277/7109)

2020 Australian Open Tournament Total = 46% (2968/6476)

The very essence of GAMEPLAN is to uncover areas in our game that are greatly underperforming because… our practice court is BROKEN!

If you play tennis just for fun and enjoy the social elements, the fitness, and meeting new friends, then don’t really worry about working on your 2nd serve. It’s all good!

But…

If you compete. If winning matters. If tennis is your thing. If tennis drives you and soaks up hours of your life every single day, then you better change how you practice. You better start setting specific time aside to work on the many elements of the 2nd serve – to move it from the liability column to the asset column.

Big data has finally arrived for the Player Development pathway. Welcome to GamePlan!

Cheers,

Craig

The practice court is clearly broken. Here’s the proof.

Points are "front loaded". By far the majority of the action, and the winning, takes place in THE FIRST 4 SHOTS. The practice court is full of long rallies. Matches are dominated by short rallies. There is a massive disconnect occurring.

We spend too much time grinding, banging balls up and down the middle of the court – that have no real benefit to winning tennis matches.

There are 3 specific rally lengths in tennis. Here is their percentage breakdown of total points.

0-4 Shots = 70%
5-8 Shots = 20%
9+ Shots = 10%

The First 4 Shots is specifically the serve, return, Serve +1 groundstroke and Return +1 groundstroke. Those are normally the shots that get practiced the least, but matter the most to winning tennis matches.

The net is an extremely high percentage place to be!

If you love playing tennis for fun, spend as much time at the baseline as you like. But if you compete – if the score matters – then you must turn your attention to the net to maximize your potential.

The “herd mentality” in tennis thinks it’s too tough to approach the net in today’s game. The conversation starts with improved string technology, more powerful rackets, and finishes with stronger, faster athletes. The herd think approaching is a relic of the past. The herd is WRONG!

AVERAGE WIN %
Baseline = 46%
Net = 66%

Data from ALL Grand Slams provides the facts about approach and volley, and the data is crystal clear – it’s immensely better than staying back at the baseline, grinding for a living.

The baseline is a tough place to create separation. Here's how to do it.

At the 2012 US Open, only 7 men and 14 women had a winning percentage from the baseline. At Wimbledon 2016, Andy Murray won the title only winning 52% of his baseline points - and he is one of the very best at it in the world!

Num3ers deeply explores the data that rules points, especially from the back of the court. Take a "deep dive" into all three rally lengths (0-4, 5-8, 9+), and winner and errors totals from the elite level of our game. The numbers will shock you!

All 4 Grand Slams

Forcing Errors = 41% Men / 37% Women
Winners = 32% Men / 29% Women
Unforced Errors = 27% Men / 34% Women

Num3ers is very much like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. It's about bringing together different data sets together to create the big picture.

Every recorded match from the 2015 Australian Open - Rd2 to the final.

There is a lot happening on a doubles court. Situations and strategies are constantly being adjusted to create mis-matches with court position. It's hard to keep track of - until now. Dou8les Num3ers is the most comprehensive analysis of doubles data in our sport. The focus is on how a point ends, and it's broken down eight ways to Sunday. Specifically, you find critical information on:

Winners rise to the #1 way a point ends (over forced & unforced errors)

- The last shot of the rally is overwhelmingly struck at the net.
- Center Window: the most important part of a doubles court to control.
- Stephen Huss: an in-depth interview on Wimbledon's Centre Court with the 2005 Wimbledon Doubles Champion.

Dou8les Num3ers leaves no stone unturned. Percentage breakdowns of how often the server or receiver hits the last shot highlight the dramatic influence of the serve. The last shot of the rally is significant, and is broken down into the following categories: volleys, overheads, passing shots, lobs and groundstrokes.

When you play a match, you actually play two matches.

When you walk out onto a tennis court, there are two matches that you are about to play. The first is during the point - a part of the match that you have spent a lot of time preparing for on the practice court. But there is a second match, that takes place in the 20 seconds between the points. This is where the mental and emotional aspects of our sport kick in.

Let's face it, there will be adversity in almost every tennis match that you play. The storm clouds are coming. How bug they are, and how long they last for, are up to you.

Between the points is very tennis specific. It provides a roadmap for the 20 seconds between the points, teaching how to handle the adversity that will surely come, and how to build on the successes that will also be present. Your mind is your biggest asset in a match, and Between the Points takes your hand off the self destruct button and stops you beating yourself.

You don't have to be good at everything, but you have got to be good at something.

You can break tennis down into four key elements - serving, returning, rallying and approaching. Each part has specific patterns of play that consistently deliver higher winning percentages than the others. No more guessing. No more opinions. All facets of our sport are covered in this exceptional product, clearly outlining what patterns to gravitate to, and how to best construct the practice court. Data comes primarily from the 2015 Australian Open.

Building Blocks

MEN = 70% errors / 30% winners
WOMEN = 74% errors / 26% winners

Forcing errors is the best way to construct a point.
You can simply break tennis down into primary and secondary patterns of play - and they are all covered here. Primary patterns include serve and return direction, forehands v backhands, and the best way to approach the net. Secondary patterns include drop shots, serve & volley and 1st volley options. If you play tournaments, this product will greatly help you simplify the singles court.

The conversation starts & ends with the Center Window.

The doubles court is like an hourglass. There are two big ends, but a small neck in the middle where all the action happens. Once you learn the power of the Center Window, where you stand to start the point will take on a lot more significance.

Doubles is a lot more about situations, with four people on the court all "dancing" with one another. Learn all the best doubles patterns, broken down for the server, returner, server's partner and the returner's partner.

Doubles Situations

The "J" - the most ideal movement for the returner's partner to attack the net.

The "V" - a better way of understanding where the server's partner should move to.

Volley Targets - there are four main areas to attack. Know which ones are higher percentage. Beach Volleyball - the idea of a "setter" and "spiker" is ideal for the doubles court.

There are certain parts of the court that the ball travels to a lot, and other low percentage areas that you really don't want to cover at all - like the alley! In general, the serving team wants to keep the ball in the middle of the court as much as possible (to help the server's partner), while the returning team benefits from hitting wider and creating more chaos in the point.

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2nd Serves: Asset Or Liability?

When Do 2nd Serves Become An Asset?

MALE PLAYERS

FEMALE PLAYERS