ATP World Tour Uncovered presented by Peugeot presents an Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of what shot helped 2017 Grigor Dimitrov soar all the way to third in the year-end ATP Rankings last season.
The golden age of the returner has spawned another great returner. Hyeon Chung is the Mover of the Week in the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings, charging up 29 spots to No. 29 on the back of his semi-final run at the Australian Open. The 21-year-old from South Korea follows a recent trend in our sport where the elite-level players are more proficient returning than serving. For example, when you examine year-end No. 1 players from 1991 to 2017, the best return performance was from 2011 to 2016. Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal have taken the returning side of our game to a whole new level. [ALSO LIKE] By comparison, the five best years for elite serve...
Kyle Edmund’s first serve has caught fire Down Under. The 23-year-old Brit served 315 aces during 60 matches in 2017 to help power himself to a year-end ATP Ranking of No. 50. Solid numbers, but nothing like what he has done during his run to the semi-finals of the 2018 Australian Open. Edmund has hit 78 aces through five matches in Melbourne – which is remarkably already 25 per cent of his season total from last year. Five of Edmund’s aces have come behind second serves. [ALSO LIKE] Edmund is currently ranked 32nd on the Infosys ATP Stats Serve LEADERBOARD, which reflects good serving, but clearly shows he is not yet one of the serving greats on the ATP World...
Most returns in tennis land just past the service line, no matter if you are returning first or second serves. There are three main regions to divide up the court when analysing return depth, and as it turns out, the region in the middle of the court acts as a magnet for all returns. An Infosys Serve & Return Tracker analysis of Rafael Nadal returning first and second serves in the Deuce court at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events and the Nitto ATP Finals from 2011-2017 identifies that getting the return really deep is a lot easier said than done. [ALSO LIKE] The three regions separating return depth: Zone 1 - Inside the service box. Zone 2 - Between...
You are left-handed. You are serving at 30/40, and naturally opt for the slider out wide in the Ad court to give yourself the highest percentage chance to save break point. Not so fast… An Infosys Serve & Return Tracker analysis of the eight left-handed players currently in the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings identifies that, from the Ad court, serving wide and serving down the T deliver the same winning percentage, at 78 per cent. The eight left-handed players primarily served wide on break point with their first serves, but not at the volume our instincts would suspect. The data set comes from 2017 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events and the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals. [ALSO LIKE]...
