Every week, Tennis Analytics dives deep into the data, bringing you a stat of the week to help you understand tennis better and become a little smarter.
Stat of the Week: 1%
Danill Medvedev hit a total of 355 first serves in play during the two weeks at Flushing Meadows.
Guess how many times he served at his opponent’s body?
THREE times! That is less than 1%… and not one of those three serves was on a pressure point.
So that leaves only wide or T serves.
- In the deuce court, Daniil’s favorite target (and most effective) was the T serve.
- On the ad side, he also primarily targeted the T serve, but served wide nearly as often.
Of all targets, his serve out wide in the ad court was the biggest weapon with 88% of points won!
Daniil Medvedev – 1st Serve Placement, 2021 US Open
Point of the Week
It is probably rare to see Medvedev serving out of a basket at the end of his workouts. Like most great servers, he practices his serves in point situations, using the same tempo you would in a match.
The only time you hit more than one first serve on the same side in a real match is if you serve a “let” or if you play “no-ad” scoring.
Serving out of a basket to just one side of the court has its place when working on technique. For strategy though, practice your serve with match tempo!
Photo of the Week
Daniil Medvedev’s first serve.
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