1st Serve Percentage
SUMMON YOUR INNER-RODDICK
So today we’re going to look at the serve from a pure numbers game. When you think of first serves, I want you to think 60%. That’s 6 first serves out of every 10. 3 for every 5. To back up my claim, let’s take a look at the 1st serve percentages of some of the best servers in history. These are career percentages pulled straight from the ATP website.
Ivo Karlovic: 66%
Pete Sampras: 59%
Nick Kyrgios: 65%
Roger Federer: 62%
John Isner: 69%
Andy Roddick: 65%
SIXTY
I’m no statistician, but I’m starting to see a pattern. Not only are they serving bombs, but they’re getting their serves in the majority of a time. Now just because you’re not a pro, doesn’t mean that this isn’t relevant to you. The 60% is an ideal stat for us regular players, not just because arbitrarily, but because of what it represents.
The 60% tells us the ideal balance of risk and consistency you need on your first serve. More importantly it gives a hard stat to aim for which isn’t always available to us in tennis. If you’re serving below well below 60% throughout a match we need to up our percentage. Likewise, if we’re serving well above, we need to up our aggression.
MENTAL
Out of all the shots in tennis, the serve is most tied directly to our mental state. We can not underestimate the mental toll and pressure it takes to serve second serves, and any resulting double faults. Doing this for prolonged games, will destroy our mental state and thus affect the rest of our game. First serves not only gives us more pressure in the point, but keeps our mental in tact, while also just getting us into the “flow” of things.
So next time, instead of going for EVERY first serve, choose and pick your moments. Go for it when you are feeling confident and bold. The rest of the time, use a consistent first serve that can pressure your opponent and set up the point. You need to find this balance through trial and error, using 60% as a guide.
