Own your 2nd serve.
The top 10 players in the world do things just a little bit better than those chasing them up the rankings.
But what exactly do they do better?
I recently wrote an Infosys Beyond The Numbers story on the ATP website focused on what the Top 10 do so well. It would be a smart idea for the rest of us to copy their success. So I researched all the major serve and return stats, and examined how many Top 10 ranked players also appear in the Top 10 in that specific category.
The analysis was from the 2016 season, and also the first month of 2017. Roger Federer crept back into the Top 10 at the end of January, so he bumps the sample size up to 11 players.
Here’s the results
2ND SERVE POINTS WON = 6
Federer, Djokovic, Wawrinka, Raonic, Nishikori, Cilic.
SERVICE GAMES WON = 5
Raonic, Federer, Cilic, Djokovic, Wawrinka.
RETURN GAMES WON = 5
Nadal, Murray, Djokovic, Monfils, Nishikori
DECIDING SETS WON = 5
Djokovic, Thiem, Berdych, Murray, Nishikori
1ST SERVE POINTS WON = 4
Raonic, Federer, Cilic, Berdych
1st SERVE RETURN POINTS WON = 4
Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, Monfils
2ND SERVE RETURN POINTS WON = 4
Djokovic, Murray, Nadal, Nishikori
BREAK POINTS CONVERTED = 3
Monfils, Nadal, Murray
BREAK POINTS SAVED = 3
Nadal, Raonic, Wawrinka
TIE-BREAKS WON = 2
Djokovic, Raonic
1ST SERVE PERCENTAGE = 2
Nadal, Djokovic
AVERAGE ACES PER MATCH = 2
Raonic, Cilic
AVERAGE DOUBLE FAULTS PER MATCH = 2
Federer, Nadal
I find this data fascinating. I have a saying early on in my strategy presentations… “you don’t have to be good at everything, but you have got to be good at something.”
Owning your second serve is a major component of becoming one of the elite players in our sport. Get to work on your 2nd serve…
Click here to read the my full story on the ATP Website.
Cheers,
Craig