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Tennis - ATP World Tour — Beyond The Numbers RSS

Under Pressure, Where Do Nadal, The Top 10 Serve?

When the walls come crumbling down, serve wide. An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the first serve locations of the Top 10 players in the Emirates ATP Rankings shows that these elite players served wide more than down the T or at the body. Serving wide also gave the players' the highest win percentage of all three locations. The data set is from 2017 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, as well as the recently completed Nitto ATP Finals in London. Serving wide delivers a higher first serve percentage than down the T, as you aim at a larger target area, although there is an immediate downside – many more aces are struck down the T. First serves...

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Down The T or Out Wide? Depends What You Want

Where should your primary first serve location be? Straight down the T, or out wide to initially pull your opponent off the court? An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals clearly shows that players who won their matches at The O2 utilised the first serve out wide more than down the T in their quest for victory. It begs the question: when players are behind in a match, does the scoreboard pressure them to go down the T more often to try and secure quick points to get back into the match? Serving wide is a higher percentage serve than down the T, offering a bigger target area to aim at, but down the...

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