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: 6.4%
Heading into the 2021 US Open, we wanted to see exactly what separates match winners from their opponents.
The most notable gap was on first serve points won. On average, the victor won over 6% more points than their opponents.
The better server almost always wins, especially on acrylic or hard courts. Last year, the US Open upgraded to Laykold, in an effort to promote consistency in both performance and court speed.
Point of the Week
An aggressive first serve has a “halo effect” that gives the server the upper hand on their next couple shots. And as we know, most points end within 4 shots.
At the last two US Opens, over 86% of all points were done within 8 strokes. The first 4 shots accounted for 61%.
This makes the first serve the most important shot in the game, with the return of serve being a close second. After all, if you can negate your opponent’s first serve, then yours doesn’t have to be as good.
Photo of the Week
2019 US Open Champion, Bianca Andreescu’s serve with key positions.
Leave a Reply