Your second serve is a beast.
You just didn’t know it…
G’day from Miami!
Last night Nick Kyrgios defeated David Goffin 7-5(5), 6-3 to advance to the quarter-finals.
Kyrgios fell behind 0-2 in the tiebreaker after he hit a backhand return in the net, and Goffin ripped a backhand winner down the line. Serving at 0-2, Kyrgios hit his 1st serve out wide in the deuce court and missed it. It was a 115mph slider. What happened next was pretty darn amazing.
Kyrgios followed the 115mph 1st serve fault with a 134mph 2nd serve ace right down the middle T. Goodness…
That’s not supposed to happen, is it?
Kyrgios’ average 2nd serve speed was 109mph. Goffin averaged 113mph with his first serve, and 89mph with his second serve.
But… Kyrgios also hits much slower 2nd serves as well, often times just above 80mph.
THE MIX IS THE KEY…
All too often we think of our serve just from our perspective. This time, think of it from the opponent’s point of view. Imagine being David Goffin, trying to get a groove on Kyrgios’ second serve. No chance.
Goffin does not know if he is getting something around 80mph or something around 130mph. That’s a 50mph difference, or about 60%. The key is not how impressive a second serve ace is at 134mph – even though it is ridiculously impressive. The key is the mix. Copy the variety, copy the range, copy the intent… make your second serve the weapon it is craving to be!
I also did an ATP Infosys analysis this week of Kyrgios’ second serve mix in his two recent wins over Novak Djokovic in Indian Wells and Acapulco.
You can read it here.
All the best,
Craig